Damage caused by Cyclone Nargis US$ 4 billion

by Mungpi

Monday, 21 July 2008 22:14

New Delhi - Cyclone Nargis that lashed Burma's southwestern coastal divisions on May 2 and 3 has resulted in damage to the tune of an estimated US $ 4 billion, according to a new report by the UN and Southeast Asian Nations. The Post Nargis Joint Assessment report, by the Tripartite Core Group, formed with the United Nations, members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Burmese military government, was released on Monday at the ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in Singapore. According to the report the estimated damage of US$ 4 billion includes US $1.7 billion in damage to assets and US $2.3 billion from loss of income of the victims. The report said the cyclone left 84,537 dead and 53,836 missing and injured 19.359 people while impacting the lives of 2.4 million people out of a population of 7.35 million living in the affected townships. The report, which is the first comprehensive analysis of the damage caused by the cyclone, said recovering from the cyclone devastation will require more than US $ 1 billion. While welcoming the release of the report, Human Rights Watch said, it is imperative to turn the report into a mechanism to help the suffering cyclone victims in Burma. "The important thing is getting aid and assistance for development to the affected people," David Scott Mathieson, HRW's Burma consultant, told Mizzima. During a press briefing, the UN Humanitarian Chief John Holmes, told reporters that despite all the developments that aid groups including the UN had made the relief phase is not yet over. "While significant progress has been made to date, we are still in the relief phase in this aid operation," reports quoted Holmes as saying. Holmes, the highest ranking UN humanitarian official in-charge of relief operations in Burma's cyclone devastated areas, is scheduled to return to the Southeast Asian country to see for himself the progress made so far in cyclone affected areas. George Yeo, Singapore's Foreign Minister, reportedly told the media that it was a relief to know there are no starvations and no major outbreak of diseases. "But there is need for help -- we need money, we need assistance," Yeo was quoted as saying. < Prev   Next >