CWS relief coordinator to arrive in Myanmar
May. 8, 2008
NOTE: Related coverage is available at http://umns.umc.org.
NEW YORK (UMNS) - A coordinator for Church World Service is expected to arrive in Myanmar on May 9 to begin preparations for cyclone relief efforts there.
The United Methodist Committee on Relief is partnering with CWS on emergency relief for the nearly one million people that the United Nations estimates were left homeless after Cyclone Nargis struck the Southeast Asia nation May 3. Up to 100,000 people may have died and tens of thousands are missing.
According to news reports, the first seven tons of U.N. relief supplies arrived in Myanmar by air May 8, and American officials said they appeared to be close to an agreement with the military government there to send in aid. Priority needs have been identified as food, plastic sheeting, water purification tablets, basic medical kits and bed nets.
UMCOR has contributed to the CWS fundraising appeal, which raised more than $50,000 in less than a day and has been expanded. Marvin Parvez, acting Asia-Pacific regional
coordinator for CWS, will arrive in Yangon, Myanmar, on May 9, with other team members to follow as soon as their visas are cleared.
"We anticipate that Myanmar's officials will now be more responsive in granting visas to aid workers, in view of the enormity of their country's situation" says CWS Emergency Response Program Director Donna Derr in Washington.
In response to the emergency, the U.S. Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control issued General License Number 14, which authorizes certain financial
transactions in support of humanitarian or religious activities by nongovernmental organizations in Burma (Myanmar).
Food crisis
The initial focus for CWS will be on food aid, followed by shelter needs. Parvez said the agency is particularly conscious of organizing food aid in a manner that "doesn't adversely affect local markets, in light of the current food crisis." The food crisis was further inflamed in Myanmar just after the cyclone.
On May 9, the CWS regional office in Bangkok, Thailand, will host a coordination meeting of members of the international ACT (Action by Churches Together) Alliance who are intending to work in Myanmar to look at how to best collaborate in their efforts. UMCOR is a part of ACT.
ACT members with staff or partners present in the city of Yangon have reported that water and electricity supplies have been cut, and that while the greatest needs are for food and shelter, the prices of food and other essential items are skyrocketing.
Parvez said CWS will promote adherence to the international aid standards among all of the aid community in Yangon, "to help ensure the best quality of response and coordination by all of us, at all levels, in this particularly difficult situation."
Contributions
Contributions to UMCOR's response to the cyclone should be earmarked for UMCOR Advance No. 3019674, Myanmar Emergency, and can be made online at http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/ . Checks also can be dropped in church offering plates or mailed directly to UMCOR, PO Box 9068, New York, NY 10087-9068. Credit-card donations are accepted by phone at (800) 554-8583.
A Sunday bulletin insert from UMCOR for local churches can be found at http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/work/emergencies/ongoing/myanmar/.
*Church World Service contributed to this report.
News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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United Methodist News Service Photos and stories also available at: http://umns.umc.org
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