It’s just over two months since Cyclone Nargis tore into Myanmar. Kate Bowen, Tearfund’s International Projects Officer, has just returned from working with partners there. Here’s her account of progress to date.
`As the flight descended into Yangon International Airport, it was completely dark below, I could see no lights or signs of habitation on the land.
Then I saw a single light and realised it was the reflection of the moon in the sky above and it was being reflected on the fields filled with water.
The light followed us for miles as we descended and all there was beneath us was water-logged fields and no other signs of life or light.
Yangon itself shows few severe signs of the cyclone beyond bent up corners on the temples and piles of trees and shrubs that have been cleared to the side of the road.
Gifts in kind
On a business visa, I was working with a Myanmar-based partner, helping staff in their emergency response to the disaster.
In the first days and weeks they responded strongly, mobilised their own communities’ structures to deliver assistance to the affected populations within their network, using gifts in kind and one-off donations provided by the outside world.
The first needs provided for were food and blankets, distributed by the community leaders to their wards.
The local response in the immediate aftermath of the cyclone was speedy and admirable while the international community, through UN agencies and relief organisations, was struggling to be allowed into the country.
Although they are now being allowed in, permission to travel to the affected Irrawaddy Delta area continues to be restricted.
Buddy innovation
One particular innovation for distributing aid was very exciting. Due to various restrictions, some partners were only permitted to give relief to communities already registered with the organisation.
These registered members only made up a fraction of the affected village, so in order to reach the others in the community the partner provided twice as much aid to the registered members and instructed them to pass half of it on to one other affected household, effectively creating an aid ‘Buddy’ system.
The situation in Myanmar has already posed many challenges unseen in other disasters and which require more creative thinking when programming responses.
The spontaneous ideas of the Myanmar people should be learned from and replicated as we work together to find a way forward.'