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One
year after Cyclone Nargis swept through Burma’s
Irrawaddy delta region and claimed an estimated 140,000
lives, there are still half a million people who have
not been able to build adequate shelter.
With the monsoon season about to begin, the UN says the
500,000 living in ‘hopelessly vulnerable shacks, with
deteriorating tarpaulins for roofs,’ are in desperate
need of emergency assistance.
Ray Hasan, Christian Aid’s Asia policy spokesman, said:
‘Local organisations that we support on the ground have,
since Cyclone Nargis, helped more than 26,000 families
build temporary shelters. But it is clear that much more
needs to be done to protect those still at risk from
further rains.’
Christian Aid raised £3.4 million for Cyclone Nargis
victims last year which went towards shelter, emergency
food, medical care, and counselling. The money also
helped fund the regenerating of mangrove forests to
protect the coastline and its communities from further
storm damage.
But despite the massive aid effort, the scale of the
cyclone disaster was so staggering that thousands of
people have still not received adequate assistance
because of lack of funds.
Christian Aid staff who have recently travelled to the
delta report that there remain pockets where very little
assistance has been received.
Well over a million people are still dependent on food
aid, where it is available, as their main source of
sustenance. Without help to regenerate the local
economy, this situation could continue for years to
come.
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