Monday 21 July 2008

World governments had pledged to give more money to Burma on condition that an independent assessment of the needs was carried out and that international relief workers were given improved access to the delta region worst hit by the cyclone.

Publication of the first full report on the needs of Burmese families today (21 July), which comes after an increase in the number of relief organisations being granted permits to travel in the delta, means that both conditions have now been met.

Guy Cave, Director of Programmes at Save the Children said: “Children will suffer because of the reluctance some donors have shown to give more money and make good on the promises they made. We have already reached over half a million people, clearly demonstrating  that relief operations in Burma can be effective and do reach those most in need.”

“The scale of the disaster is now even clearer and the size of the job we still have to do is massive. It’s equivalent to the devastation in Indonesia after the tsunami and it will take at least three years for families in the worst affected areas to fully recover. Children will need help to get back to school and their parents will need ongoing help to rebuild their livelihoods so they can earn money and afford to feed their families.

The Post Nargis Joint Assessment, which covered 291 villages in 30 townships, was carried out by the UN, the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean), the Union of Myanmar and aid agencies, like Save the Children.

It revealed that:

• three quarters of health facilities in the affected townships had been destroyed or damaged. A lack of health facilities means children are more vulnerable because they are less likely to be able to visit a clinic or hospital to get medical treatment if they are ill

• around 4,000 schools were damaged, with toilets, equipment and furniture being destroyed. Fewer functioning schools means children’s education will suffer either because of over-crowding in schools that survived or because they do not have a school to go to

• widespread damage to the farming and fishing industry. Many families in the delta relied on these industries to make a living and are now struggling to make ends meet and afford to feed their children 

• on the day the survey was carried out, 55% of families said they currently only had enough food to last for one day and had no stocks to fall back on

More information

• The full report is available online at www.asean.org/21765.pdf
• Read more about our work in Myanmar (Burma)