World Outreach is working with Christian partner agencies and churches to bring much needed relief and rehabilitation to the victims of Cyclone Nargis. A WO senior leader Kitbok Rynthatiang was able to get into Yangon within days of the tragedy and provided some emergency funding to various churches who were valiantly helping the suffering. Also to a hostel we support which had been badly damaged where money was needed for emergency supplies, shelter and repairs. These are a few excerpts from his first hand immediate report which gives a sense of the scale of the tragedy and the challenge he felt:

“POPULATION AFFECTED: 2.60 million people. Around 80-100,000 people died including thousands and thousands of children. The affected area is populated by the ethnic people of Burma and the ethnic Karen tribe. Christians (mostly Baptists) are mainly Karen.

Yangon: On first sight it seems all the trees have been uprooted or twisted and it looks like the city has lost its soul. Yangon’s trees were the beauty of this city. It’s like “ground zero”.

Delta area: In Ngapudaw district 245 of the 296 villages were completely wiped out. So brutal was the devastation that no one would have known that there were villages there before. In Maungmya, 838 Christian families lost everything. At least 3 pastors are dead with their whole families.

Rice production: The Delta produces 20% of the rice in the country and 24 million acres were massively damaged, it will take time for the harvest to come up again though they will need to sow immediately.

Temporary shelters (campsites) near Yangon have been put up both by local organizations like World Vision, the Red Cross and the Government. Those in unofficial campsites have been told to move to official sites. However, in the official campsites there is no food available! 28 campsites have no food at all. 1053 families with nowhere to go and nothing to eat. 3507 Christians in one camp alone in Labuta. I could not see any rice and there is no fuel for cooking. The military are telling monks to evict refugees from their temple premises!

Water sources are all contaminated and salt affected.

Dead bodies: I saw dead bodies which are beginning to come up from under the water. The consequence will be devastating in terms of disease. Mosquitoes are beginning to breed.”

Three weeks after this was written the military junta was still preventing aid going into the delta area and reports of 1000 people a day dying were being received.!

United Nations
Reporting on the assessment, Richard Horsey of the United Nations Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said, “We estimate upwards of 1 million people currently in need of shelter and lifesaving assistance.”  Regarding the confusion on the ground, Horsey went on to say, “With all those dead mostly floating in the water at this point you can get some idea of the conditions facing the teams on the ground.  It’s a major logistical challenge.”

As the challenging large scale rehabilitation phase begins World Outreach will play a part. Foreign aid work is only just starting to get into the affected areas at the time of writing.
 
WO Disaster Relief Plan - We have a four point plan to assist those suffering -both Christians and Buddhist.

1          Cash to help our churches and hostels buy emergency provisions.  The reason for this is that rice prices have risen by up to 500%, other food, groceries and kitchen utensils have increased by 400% to 500% and building materials such as zinc , roofing and nails etc have increased by 300%.
  
2          Lifestraws - the delivery of the Lifestraw portable water filters. The new family filters can provide 30 litres of drinking each day for just $50 which means 10 or more people can benefit

3          Mosquito nets pretreated with insecticide so that the mosquitoes die when they come into contact with the nets.

4          Adoption of villages We are working on a longer term plan for the rebuilding of families lives by providing food, seed, cooking pots, blankets, tents, etc. Trauma counseling will also be provided together with spiritual support.

In the meantime you can make donations to the Myanmar cyclone appeal online at www.wointl.com or by post at your nearest WO National Office and we will let you know how the funds will be used.