Top UN Official Visits Cyclone Ravaged Myanmar

The UN has deployed 100 satellite terminals to facilitate in-country coordination of the humanitarian effort.

Cyclone-affected families take refuge at Leikkukone Pagoda in Pyapon township, Myanmar. Photo: United Nations

(PYAPON, Myanmar) - The United Nations’ top relief official John Holmes has travelled to the Irrawaddy delta, the area in Myanmar hardest hit by Cyclone Nargis, which struck early this month and has affected up to 2.4 million people.

As the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs travels within Myanmar, UN agencies report that they are making progress in reaching victims of the cyclone, but that the operation still needs to be ramped up.

The UN World Health Organization (WHO) said that the official toll of dead and missing now exceeds 132,000, with more than 19,000 injured. Speaking at a press conference in Bangkok, spokesperson Maureen Birmingham said that assessments of the health needs of townships was continuing. She cited Ngaputaw township as one specific example.

WHO found that the most common conditions reported there after the cyclone were injuries, followed by acute respiratory infections, gastroenteritis, dysentery and malaria. Some 46 per cent of the population of the township has been affected by the cyclone and 49 per cent of houses suffered some damage.

WHO and its partners have procured more than 350 tons of medical supplies and equipment for the cyclone-affected area. These include 3 million water purification sachets, 90,000 water containers, more than 50,000 insecticide treated mosquito nets, shelter equipment and emergency health kits.

The World Food Programme (WFP) says it has dispatched enough food to feed over 250,000 people with a first ration of rice – enough to last for two weeks – as well as high-energy biscuits and beans. Most of these supplies were purchased by the agency within Myanmar itself. WFP is using air transport as well as boats, barges and tugs to distribute aid.

WFP spokesperson Marcus Prior said that this was still insufficient and too slow. He said that aid workers were coming across settlements that have received little if any assistance so far.

Amanda Pitt, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that the current estimate for people who had been displaced was around 150,000. She said they are staying in 120 official or spontaneous settlements.

The UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has deployed 100 satellite terminals to facilitate in-country coordination of the humanitarian effort.