Cyclone Nargis Struck Myanmar

The category four Nargis cyclone struck west-southwest of Yangon City, Myanmar on Friday 2 May 2008. Wind exceeded 190 kph and the storm ripped through the delta city (estimation population 6 million) for more than ten hours until Saturday noon on 3 May. Reports from the International Federation’s delegation in Myanmar suggest extensive devastation across the affected region. In some affected villages along the Irrawaddy river delta, 95 per cent of houses have been destroyed. Whilst in Yangon, access to running water and electricity has been severely limited. Homes were flattened, more sturdy structures damages, tress uprooted and power lines downed.

The scale of destruction and loss is massive; casualty figures are still rising with reported number (per 6 May 2008): 22,000 dead, 41,000 missing and millions affected.

The Myanmar Red Cross Society (MRCS), with International Federation support, has been active in in-country coordination mechanism. On 5 May, the Red Cross took part in the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) where the activation of the cluster system was discussed.

I got info that the one of Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) staff has departured for Bangkok yesterday (8 May) as part of Federation’s RDRT (regional disaster response team) member to enter Myanmar as soon as possible. Along with him are three members from Singapore Red Cross and Philippines RC. In Jakarta, PMI national headquarter has prepared 10 members in their list to be deployed anytime needed.

International Federation has released CHF 200,000 (USD 190,000 or EUR 123,000) from its Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support Myanmar Red Cross Society (MRCS) in undertaking immediate assessments of affected areas and distribution of relief items (i.e. cooking utensil, hygiene items, emergency shelters).

On 6 May, International Federation released preliminary emergency appeal to seek CHF 6,290,909 (USD 5,9 million or EUR 3,86 million) in cash, kind, or services in response to request for support MRCS to assist more than 30,000 families for 6 months.