wfn.org | [APD] ADRA is First to Deliver Aid to Myanmar's Isolated Pyinsalu islands

[Christian B. Schäffler <APD@stanet.ch>]

[APD] ADRA is First to Deliver Aid to Myanmar?s Isolated Pyinsalu  islands

>May 21, 2008

>Adventist Press Service [APD]

>Christian B. Schaeffler,

>Editor-in-chief

>Fax +41-61-261 61 18

><mailto:APD@stanet.ch> APD@stanet.ch

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>CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland

ADRA is First to Deliver Aid to Myanmar?s Isolated Pyinsalu islands

Yangun/Myanmar. [APD]   Travelling by boat, Adventist Development and  Relief
Agency (ADRA) emergency response personnel have been reaching many  stranded
communities in the remote Pyinsalu islands in southern Myanmar?s  devastated
Irrawaddy Delta, providing emergency aid, such as food, medical  assistance
for the injured and dehydrated, and basic relief supplies in the  aftermath
of Cyclone Nargis.

Through coordination with the United Nations and the government of  Myanmar,
ADRA has been requested to provide emergency aid to at least 30,000  people
in the Pyinsalu Sub-Township in the southern portion of Labutta  Township, a
distant patchwork of islands and rivers, where thousands have died. To
better aid survivors, ADRA has deployed mobile teams who are providing
medical assistance to the injured and to those suffering from severe
dehydration. Each team can deliver up to six metric tons of food during  a
trip, enough to feed at least 2,000 people for a week. Currently, ADRA  is
the only relief organization working in Pyinsalu, where aid can only  reach
the affected villages by boat.

"This is the most difficult area, certainly of Labutta, and probably of  the
whole crisis area," said Mark Castellino, programs director for the ADRA
Network?s Cyclone Nargis emergency response, from Yangon.

ADRA?s presence in Pyinsalu began long before Cyclone Nargis struck  Myanmar
on May 3. Terry Dinh, ADRA Myanmar?s associate country director, along  with
a group of assisting field staff were constructing a jetty as part of a
tsunami rehabilitation project in the village of Amageley. Hours after  the
storm subsided, he and his staff purchased rice and transported it from  the
town of Labutta to survivors in Amat, Theik, and Ayar Daw, and shared  their
own clothing, assisted with basic clean up, and helped bury the dead.
"Everything is lost," said Dinh. "Everything."

Since the disaster, many communities that lie along the coastline and in
small islands in the delta region have remained isolated due to the fact
that much of the boat transportation infrastructure has been destroyed.  This
has left thousands of people without food, water, and basic medical
assistance, and vulnerable to diseases such as cholera, malaria, and  dengue
fever. In an effort to assist them, ADRA has provided transportation to
camps in Labutta and Myaungmya, where there is improved access to food
items, supplies, and medicines. In the days following the disaster,
thousands of people living in low-lying areas traveled to these towns to
seek refuge.

"There are many people still remaining on the islands, and people have  lost
their livelihoods, their shelters, all of their clothing, their cattle,  and
their buffaloes," said Kyaw Aung Oliver, program officer for ADRA  Myanmar.
"They have nothing left with them."

ADRA?s emergency response is centered in the devastated Irrawaddy  Delta
region, which suffered the most damage as a result of cyclonic winds  that
reached more than 120 mph (193 km/h). Although officially 77,738 have  been
reported dead and 56,917 are missing, other estimates set those numbers
considerably higher. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on May 18 that up to 2.4 million  people
have been affected, of which 1.4 million severely.

ADRA committed at least US$265,500 in immediate emergency funding from  ADRA
supporting offices, which was complemented by a US$100,000 match from  the
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). In addition, ADRA  has
provided more than US$130,000 in medical supplies, water purification
systems to benefit 48,000 people a day, one million water purification
tablets, kitchen kits for 10,000 displaced persons, and 10,000 blankets,
longyi, underwear, and slippers. In partnership with the World Food
Programme (WFP), ADRA has also provided at least 25 metric tons of rice  to
approximately 50,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in 14 camps in
Labutta.

In the aftermath of the disaster, the government of Myanmar declared a  state
of emergency across five regions, including Yangon, Irrawaddy, Pegu,  Karen
and Mon, in which 24 million people live. On May 20, Myanmar began three
days of mourning for thousands of cyclone victims.

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