Donors detained after aid distribution

Private donors were detained by authorities yesterday after distributing relief supplies to cyclone victims in townships in Irrawaddy division, and have been prevented from going back to the area today.

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Conditions Ripe for Disease in Irrawaddy Delta

Access to regular supplies of safe drinking water and proper sanitation is essential for preventing waterborne diseases. Malaria and dengue fever outbreaks also will be a major concern in the coming weeks.

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Helpless and Stranded

A day in the life of a 12-year-old cyclone victim in the delta and her struggle to stay alive.

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Road to death and devastation

In the middle of the night the complex of small monasteries in Downtown Rangoon awakes to hectic activity. Trucks, pick-ups and small buses arrive; in the dark of the night.

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Cyclone victims sent back home

The aid worker, who witnessed the transportation of over 600 refugees from Maupin to villages in Bogale on Saturday, said despite their inability to reconstruct their homes the victims are being forced to go back to the villages.

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Junta demands money for cyclone fund from local firms

Unable to cope or unwilling to help from resources in its exchequer, the Burmese military junta has created and is demanding money for a special fund for the survivors of Cyclone Nargis in Irrawaddy River Delta in Southern Burma from all local business firms in Kachin State, Northern Burma, local sources said.

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Shan State assigned 500 cows, buffaloes to aid Nargis victims

Eastern region commander was ordered by the junta from Nyapyidaw to collect money from the people of Shan State to send 500 cows and buffaloes to Nargis victims in the Irrawaddy delta, according to Southern Shan State sources.

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Inside Story

I just want to share the dire situation the people are experiencing over there. The person who actually went there wants as many people to know the actual situation and requested to put it on a blog or somewhere in the web. The situation is really different from China where the government is trying so hard to help its people. On the contrary, Myanmar Government is trying so hard to eliminate as many of its country people as possible.

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The two faces of Burmese aid: a starving village and a state lie

It will be years before the Irrawaddy delta recovers from Cyclone Nargis - but the visitor to the Sinkan refugee camp could be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss was about. Its 39 blue tents are neat and evenly spaced and their occupants look clean and contented. A team of white-uniformed doctors and nurses tends to their medical needs, white Toyota Land Cruisers of the United Nations stand in attendance and a group of Japanese diplomats inspects the camp, snapping photographs as they go.


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Myanmar must deliver 'low-hanging fruits' soon, says ASEAN secretary

Myanmar's junta must allow foreign aid workers unhindered access to the areas hardest-hit by Cyclone Nargis soon if the regime hopes to keep the trust of the international aid community, a senior South-East Asian official said Tuesday. "What has to be delivered is real activities," said Surin Pitsuwan, secretary general of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) that along with the United Nations co-hosted a pledging conference for the victims of Cyclone Nargis in Yangon over the weekend.

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Myanmar: Safe drinking water thanks to cooperation between Malteser International and the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) - Drinking

One of the two plants will be installed on the grounds of the hospital in Labutta where it will produce 500 litres of drinking water per hour. The other bigger plant will be set up in the centre of Labutta; it can produce up to 6,000 litres of drinking water per hour. ‘Together with other non-governmental organisations and local authorities, our staff members will also organise a distribution system, so that the drinking water from this plant can be brought to the other emergency shelters and camps in the city’, Ingo Radtke, Secretary General of Malteser International, explains. ‘With the support of the THW, we can provide safe drinking water for more than 10,000 people every day only with the bigger plant.’

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