Emergency relief still a far cry for many cyclone survivors

by Solomon

Wednesday, 06 August 2008 22:12

New Delhi – Three months after the killer Cyclone Nargis ravaged Burma's coastal region, emergency relief and early recovery assistance is still a far cry in many places, the United Nations said. "Delivery of sufficient relief material and early recovery assistance remains a challenge, particularly in hard-to-reach areas of the affected Ayeyarwady [Irrawaddy] delta," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said on Tuesday. All humanitarian groups need to continue their support to ensure that basic needs of the most vulnerable sections of the community and restoration of livelihoods are addressed, the UN said in a statement. "We still need more funding from donors for emergency relief operations and early recovery efforts," said Laksmita Noviera, spokesperson of UNOCHA in Burma. The UN has received 41 per cent of the total US $ 481 million that it had flash appealed for, but it is still short of US $ 285 million, the UN said. "We need more support in different areas and in different clusters, one of the main needs in the agricultural sector," Noviera told Mizzima. Meanwhile, a volunteer in Irrawaddy's Bogale Township said a lot of survivors are still struggling to find help as they are faced with severe food shortages. "Today (Wednesday) around 300 villagers came to us and requested us for food but we have already finished everything," the aid worker told Mizzima. He said with many local volunteers and donors stopping their donation, cyclone survivors are facing severe difficulties in finding food to sustain themselves. "We have seen a lot of villages having trouble getting enough food," he said. According to the UN, food is urgently required to help 924,000 survivors for over the next nine months. So far more than 25,600 tons of food assistance has reached 684,000 survivors. < Prev   Next >