Tearfund partner agencies inside Myanmar (Burma) are responding to the thousands of people that were hit by the devastating impact of Cyclone Nargis at the weekend.
Tens of thousands are now thought to have died when winds and waves ripped thorough coastal and inland regions.
Partners working in the areas devastated by the cyclone are providing food, shelter and clean water through a network of churches in the region.
Despite all communication being damaged, Tearfund has contacted partner teams in Thailand who have managed to speak with staff in Myanmar.
‘On top of the tens of thousands that have died we know that many more people have been badly hurt, are without homes, food, clothes or medicine and are badly traumatised by the level of destruction that the cyclone unleashed,’ says Sudarshan Sathianathan from Tearfund.
‘Now, more than ever it is vital that as we start to understand what communities needs are in the immediate term we can provide exactly what will help and support our partner agencies in the work that they are doing, in very difficult circumstances.’
Through its partner staff Tearfund is assessing the extent of the need. On top of its existing development programme Tearfund has committed £150,000 to emergency relief.
Waves of up to 3.5 metres created by the cyclone hit 5 coastal and inland regions as it spread east to west and where over 24 million people live.
One of the areas hit, the Delta region, known as the breadbasket of the country because of its production of rice for the region, has millions of poor communities living and working there as agricultural staff. People living on vulnerable silt plains there have been devastated by the impact.
Estimates show that at least 22,000 people have died and more than 41,000 people are missing with predictions that the figure will rise.
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Tearfund is working through a global network of churches and organisations in more than 60 countries in the developing world to help poor communities adapt to climate change and to reduce environment-related disaster risk.