Providing clean drinking water is part of the response. Photo: ACT International
Despite humanitarian access and logistical challenges, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, working as a member of the global alliance, Action by Churches Together (ACT) International, is participating in providing clean water, emergency food and non-food items to more than 100,000 people.
“ACT members have a long history of work with local organizations in Myanmar. It is through the strength of these organizations that ACT members will continue to provide the much needed relief to families braving the aftermath of this major disaster,” said ACT International Director, John Nduna.
A preliminary worldwide ACT appeal for $5.1 million has been issued to provide up to 1.3 million people with safe water through the rehabilitation of 5,000 water points.
Other planned assistance includes emergency shelter for up to 340,000 people along with at least 10 days of food aid for up to 68,000 people. ACT Members are also planning distribution of non-food items for up to 112,000 people.
Increasing need
The catastrophic effects of Cyclone Nargis that struck Myanmar (Burma) May 3, 2008, become more apparent with each passing day. As of May 16, two weeks later, the official death toll is 77,738 with at least 55,917 people still missing.
Preliminary rapid assessments report that the greatest needs are for water, food, non-food items, emergency and permanent shelter and medicine. Disease outbreaks are a threat to survivors due to contaminated drinking water, poor sanitation and nutrition and unhealthy living conditions following the cyclone.
“The wells are polluted by seawater, so for the time being people survive by drinking the juice from coconuts ... In the three villages we visited, people are surviving on seed grain, which was meant to be planted for the next crops,” an ACT member representative reported.
“The immediate priority is to continue getting life-saving assistance out to those in need, but ACT members also foresee significant rehabilitation challenges ahead, including food security and livelihood recovery,” said Nduna.
Relief is moving
An ACT member representative in Yangon said that supported local organizations are reaching very poor villages that nobody else can access. One organization has already established 21 centers assisting people now homeless after the disaster.
“ACT member-supported local organizations, as part of civil society networks, are using their local knowledge to assess needs and deliver assistance,” Nduna reported.
“On a macro level things are slow, but on a micro level — relief is moving,” said an ACT member representative in Yangon.
With local stocks in Yangon running low and increasing food costs in the country, local ACT-supported organizations are already working with the World Food Program to assist in the distribution of food aid.
A coordinated disaster response
Immediately following the cyclone, ACT members began coordinating and communicating with each other, developing a rapid support team in the region in collaboration with the ACT Coordinating Office in Geneva. Members are actively coordinating their efforts on a daily basis in both Yangon and Bangkok along with other non-governmental organizations and UN agencies.
Working across the globe, members of ACT have launched national appeals for funding and are mobilizing staff to support the initial six-month humanitarian response. Initial pledges from the alliance total more than US $600,000 including $100,000 from PDA.
Amidst harsh and life-threatening conditions, ACT members report that survivors are trying to cope as best they can. An ACT member representative says, “Some have begun rebuilding their shacks with bamboo, rushes and anything else they can find. Everybody is helping each other and sharing the food they have.” |
