Tearfund has committed £150,000 to enable our Christian partners in Myanmar (Burma) to assess immediate relief needs in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis which has killed 22,000 people.
The storm, which brought winds of 120mph, has left 41,000 others missing and 90,000 homeless.
One of the worst hit areas is the town of Bogalay where 10,000 people have perished, according to a government minister.
Many died when Nargis unleashed a 12ft high tidal wave which first struck the Irrawaddy Delta region on Saturday and swept from west to east across the southern tip of Myanmar.
Four other provinces were also severely hit, Bago, Karen, Mon and Rangoon.
Together with Irrawaddy, they are the most fertile and densely populated areas of the country, with 24 million living there.
A tidal surge caused by the cyclone has left vast areas of southern Myanmar under water. Picture: courtesy of alertnet.org
Thousands of homes have been swept away in the flooding and there has been extensive damage to power and telephone lines.
Food and fuel prices are rising steeply as shortages start to bite.
Tearfund has two main partners in the country; both are Christian organisations and one has links to more than 4,000 churches.
Damage to telephone and internet connections is making communications difficult.
Tearfund is working with our partners to assess where help is needed and what is required.
‘We are making an immediate assessment of the areas of need and planning a swift response,’ commented Tearfund’s Head of Region for Asia, Sudarshan Sathianathan.
‘Our church-linked partner will be one of our primary routes for response.
‘There are fewer restrictions to work through local church and there is strong local capacity.’
The partner, which can mobilise a large number of volunteers from its churches, does have relief aid experience from dealing with previous flooding disasters, such as floods and cyclone.
But with some remote areas still inaccessible and the destruction so widespread, assessing the full scale of the damage will take some time.
The situation is further complicated by the nature of the ruling Myanmar regime.
The military junta, which has been in power since 1962, has a track record of clamping down hard on displays of public opposition, evidenced last September when protests were violently suppressed.
The military also keeps a tight rein on foreign access to the country, a situation which could have a critical bearing on humanitarian agencies’ response to the cyclone.