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Myanmar

Myanmar: Around 40% of dead or missing in Burma cyclone are children

Official figures are that 22,000 people are dead and one million have been left homeless in Myanmar (Burma). Save the Children aid workers on the ground believe the figures could be much higher.

Save the Children's team in Myanmar (Burma) reports that 40% of the dead and missing since Cyclone Nargis hit Burma last weekend are believed to be children. Official figures are that 22,000 people are dead and one million have been left homeless. Save the Children aid workers on the ground believe the figures could be much higher.

Save the Children has launched a global emergency appeal for =A35 million to help surviving families after their homes were destroyed by the cyclone.

Andrew Kirkwood, Save the Children's Country Director of Burma, said: "We know that some areas are still completely under salt water - some people have no drinking water or food. Unless assistance gets into those kinds of areas very soon, the death toll will keep rising. It is a race against time and now our priority has to be those who are left - we urgently need help to be able to reach the surviving children and families and deliver what we know they need."

Families in Myanmar (Burma) need urgent help in a deteriorating situation. The charity is responding to the emergency and yesterday provided food, plastic tarpaulins, water purification tablets and rehydration salts to 50,000 people whose homes have been destroyed.

Mr Kirkwood said: "There is an incredibly urgent humanitarian need. We're talking about a similar situation to the 2004 tsunami. The storm surge in many parts of the delta following the major wind was reportedly as high as 25 feet in places and as the delta is a very flat area we expect that many, many people drowned. About 40% of the people living in the delta are children under 18, so we would expect that 40% of the dead and missing are children."

To donate to help children and families affected by the disaster please call 0207 012 6400.