Informing humanitarians worldwide 24/7 — a service provided by UN OCHA

Myanmar

Caritas relief efforts scale up in Myanmar

Despite the many challenges for humanitarian assistance and access in Myanmar, emergency relief efforts are scaling up to reach tens of thousands of people.

CRS is supporting the Myanmar cyclone emergency response of the Caritas Internationalis network, which will reach an estimated 60,000 people in some of the hardest-hit divisions of Ayeyarwady and Yangon with food, temporary shelter, health care and other aid items.The local Church is at the frontlines of increasingly desperate conditions: in Pathein diocese, many churches are becoming like refugee camps. Every day more people in need arrive at church compounds desperate for some measure of help and hope. Local partners are distributing food to thousands of people taking refuge in parish centers.

Cyclone Nargis made landfall on 2 May, killing 80,000 people with 56,000 still unaccounted for and 2.5 million affected.

'We are reaching 60,000 people in the worst affected areas of Pathein and Yangon, which were badly hit by the storm,' says Mr. J.P. Nelson, Coordinator of the Caritas Internationalis Emergency Response Support Team for Myanmar.

Small teams on the ground are distributing food and other supplies. More than 300 local volunteers have taken part in trainings on assessments, distributions, health, water and sanitation, psycho-social support and accountability.

'It continues to be extremely difficult to operate in the affected areas. The extensive networks we are able to draw on through religious and other organizations within Myanmar allows us access to many of the people who have received little assistance.' says Nelson.

'The amount of aid we are getting through remains significant but is far outweighed by the enormous need that exists particularly in the Irrawaddy Delta region', says Nelson. 'We are still unable to conduct mass distributions, and this is raising the growing threat of malnutrition and spread of disease.

'We are very glad to see the government of Myanmar is allowing more Asian disaster relief experts in. Fortunately with the wide network of Catholic medical and community organizations throughout Asia and our strong record of working through recent disasters such as Cyclone Sidr and the Tsunami, we are hopeful that we can draw on this expertise to assist the many, many millions of people in Myanmar who require it.'