Cyclone Nargis: ActionAid response to Burma disaster

ActionAid is mobilising staff from other Asian countries to help its team in Myanmar (Burma) respond to the devastating cyclone which struck the country at the weekend.

Powerful winds and floods swept away flimsy homes on Saturday as cyclone Nargis swept eastwards across Myanmar from the Bay of Bengal. The scale of the damage became clear on Monday. The authorities now say 15,000 people have died and up to 30,000 are missing.

Shihab Uddin, ActionAid programme coordinator for Myanmar said that more than 75% of housing has been devastated and all communications with the areas affected by the cyclone are still cut off.

He said: “Survivors urgently need temporary shelter, clean water and food but it may take days to reach those areas. The death toll is reported to be 15,000 but that is still a provisional number. Until it is possible to reach the villages, we cannot have precise information on the numbers dead and missing."

The area worst affected by the cyclone – the Irrawaddy Division – is one where ActionAid works.

ActionAid has started an emergency programme with our partner KDN, a church-based network working in 276 villages in the affected areas, and five other teams are already working on how to further scale up the agency’s response.

Meanwhile, Shihab Uddin is meeting with the UN, ECHO (European Commission Humanitarian Organisation) and other international NGOs to plan a co-ordinated response.