Supplies are reaching the Irrawady Delta where Cyclone Nargis ripped through the rice bowl of Myanmar (Burma) eight days ago but logistics continue to be difficult.

Our partners KDN (Knowledge and Dedication for the Nation) have set up three relief camps providing food, medical aid and temporary shelters to survivors from 44 villagers in the delta.

On Saturday (10 May) evening 300 more people arrived from the islands so another camp was made ready yesterday and we're scaling up our operations with local partners.

Truckloads of food, drinking water and medicine have been dispatched to villages in Pyar Pone by local partner Myanmar Egress and ActionAid is reaching agreements with local NGO PACT Myanmar to reach another 220 villages. Local volunteers from the Shalom Foundation trained in first aid and emergencies are also being mobilised to work with survivors.

People are being ferried to camps by boat and truck as roads and bridges have been washed away. All public inland water transport has stopped as so many boats were destroyed in the storm so logistics are still difficult.

Our local partners have surveyed four villages and found people hungry, living under any debris they could collect and obviously traumatised. Relatives’ bodies and animals lay around decaying while the survivors tried to live on coconuts and anything they could scavenge. Orphans roamed around aimlessly.

People have been caring for injured relatives, using whatever remedies they can find locally. Many of the injured are likely to die if aid does not reach them soon.

The team returned on Friday evening (9 May) to help clear bodies and animal carcases.

Roger Yates, head of emergencies at ActionAid, said the assessment showed a "simply awful" situation.