Cyclone Nargis 2008

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[edit] Cyclone Nargis 2008

[edit] Status

  • 16 May 2008 -- Myanmar state TV reports the official toll as 77,738 dead, with 55,917 missing, and 19,359 injured. Myanmar cyclone toll tops 77,000, Al Jazeera English.
  • Red Cross estimates up to 127,990 dead. UN estimates some 1.5 million to 2.5 million survivors are in desperate need of food, water, shelter and medical care. UN Says Nobody Knows Full Extent of Cyclone Disaster AP, 17 May 2008.
  • 19 May 2008 -- Myanmar agreed to an ASEAN-led task force for redistributing foreign aid, and to medical teams from all ASEAN countries ASEAN will work with the UN to hold a donor conference in Yangon on May 25. (ASEAN = Association of Southeast Asian Nations).
  • 4 June 2008 -- The Burmese junta finally allows foreign aid workers some access to the delta region, in the wake of huge international pressure. New challenges for delta aid workers BBC News.
  • 24 June 2008 -- The ASEAN Humanitarian Task Force (HTF) convened the ASEAN Roundtable on Post Nargis Joint Assessment (PONJA) for Response, Recovery and Rehabilitation in Yangon, Myanmar. PONJA teams were in the field between late May and the first three weeks of June to collect the data, which they have now started processing and analysing for report compilation. ASEAN Roundtable ASEAN Secretariat, 24 June 2008

[edit] Background

  • Cyclone Nargis was a category three storm when it hit Myanmar's densely-populated Irrawaddy Delta region late on Friday 2 May 2008 - the same strength as Hurricane Katrina when it struck the US city of New Orleans in 2005.
  • Winds peaking at more than 200 kph were followed by a huge 3.5m (12-foot) tidal surge that swept through the vulnerable low-lying delta towns, wiping out entire communities.
  • REUTERS special coverage on Myanmar -- interviews, photographs, and videos Myanmar | Reuters
  • Latest news reports, death toll and casualty statistics by local reporters on the ground in Myanmar (Burma) - Irrawaddy news magazine

[edit] Photos & Maps

[edit] First hand Reports

  • 9 May 2008, "Things are pretty dire here. I’ve never been in anything like this before, the devastation is just so massive. The storm was unbelievable, lasting 10 hours. The delta, where the storm first landed, is just flattened. Stories are still coming in but they are bad. Last night, an NGO rep stopped by, he just got in town from one of the worst places down there. He said the place is just totaled - bodies lying everywhere, 40,000 people missing just from the one island where has was. They lived by bunkering down among rice bags from the last harvest (clever). Hakan thinks the death toll will surpass 100,000.". a note on the web
  • 9 May 2008, Written by Charity, Yangon damaged by cyclone [note: The first report on the disaster, written from Thailand. Someone else was in Yangon from 9 to 13 May, and reported Yangon city was NOT devastated. "Damaged, yes, but life in the city was getting back to normal."] Most people have never experienced this kind of storm in their lives. I tried to call to my family and all the people I know this whole day, and it did not work as all the phone lines are damaged.The electric poles are flattened, trees are uprooted from the ground. Zinc sheets from the roofs are in the street. People could not go out even no dog. I read this news from http://www.mizzima.com. You may read some news there. I have been here in Bangkok for a week to attend conference. My husband and the two children and the rest of the family are in Yangon. My husband is joining me to attend conference this evening. But due to this situation I am not sure he could make it. Last night I woke up trembling. I have that kind of awakening whenever something goes wrong. I prayed to God to protect my family, colleagues and my people. Only this morning I came to know that Yangon where I live has been damaged by the cyclone.
Lift our people in your prayer to God. As I write this letter my heart is so grieved. May your prayers be answered and our people find relief in wholistic ways.
  • Mangrove destruction partly to blame for Myanmar toll "the impact is so severe because of the increase of the population... This has led to an encroachment into the mangrove forests which used to serve as buffer between the rising tide, between big waves and storms and the residential area. All those lands have been destroyed. Human beings are now direct victims of such natural forces."
  • Removal of Myanmar's mangrove forest ..., IHT, 9 May 2008.
  • In Pyinsalu, only 400 people survived from a population of 4,000. The town was also hit by the tsunami of 26 December 2004, but in that disaster only a few people in the town died. Ko Soe Kyaw Kyaw, a World Vision area development manager who conducted informal assessment of the area, said: The number of orphans would be significant in Latputa, because many children go there for schooling, leaving their families in nearby villages, some of which have totally vanished.”
  • 9 May 2008: Myanmar's food basket bore the brunt of last week's cyclone and supplies in the nation are now threatened. The five worst-affected states produce most of the fish, rice and pork for the nation's 47.8 million people, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization said. Burma’s ‘Rice Basket’ Knocked out, say Experts
  • update 16 May 2008 -- 149,000 water buffaloes, rice seeds,livestock and farms have been swept away Food crisis looms in Myanmar IHT.
  • 13 May 2008 -- International fears about the plight of 1.5 million victims in cyclone-ravaged Myanmar deepened. Tens of thousands of people throughout the delta are crammed into Buddhist monasteries and schools after arriving in towns that were poor even before the disaster. Lacking food, water and sanitation, they face the threat of diseases. The heavy rains added to their misery. World fears for plight of Myanmar cyclone victims Reuters
  • 15 May 2008 -- The Burmese authorities have sealed off the cyclone disaster zone from the outside world, expelling foreign aid workers and placing multiple checkpoints along roads into the Irrawaddy delta, to the despair of foreign diplomats and aid workers.
  • Burma junta kicks out aid foreign workers, The Times (UK)
  • 20 May 2008 -- A volunteer Burmese doctor, after seeing a number of patients in Rangoon and the Irrawaddy delta following Cyclone Nargis, shook his head in disbelief. “Almost 80 percent of my patients had diarrhea and dysentery!” he said. Diarrhea, Dysentery Widespread among Refugees, The Irrawaddy
  • 31 May 2008 -- Myanmar's ruling junta lashed out Thursday at aid donors who promised millions of dollars for cyclone relief. Despite the blistering rhetoric, the United Nations reported that dozens of visas had been approved for international relief workers to enter the country. But according to aid and human rights groups, there are obstacles to the free flow of international aid.
  • 5 June 2008 -- "A total of 1.3 million survivors have been reached with assistance by local and international humanitarian groups, the Red Cross and the U.N.", said the U.N's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA.
  • The Office of the GRN was flooded, there is need for repair of the office equipment including the computer.

[edit] Political issues around aid

  • 9 May 2008 --Myanmar will accept foreign aid but not foreign aid workers, the foreign ministry said on Friday. Give, but stay away, Straits Times, 10 May 2008
  • While foreign aid groups wait to deliver disaster relief, the generals who run Myanmar have a priority of their own: a constitutional referendum scheduled for Saturday 10 May. The constitution is central to the generals' political survival. Constitutional referendum still the priority for Myanmar leaders, IHT, 9 May 2008.
  • Critics of the referendum and the military-drafted constitution have called on the government to postpone the vote to better cope with the humanitarian challenge that it faces in the coming weeks. While insisting it would go ahead with the referendum, the government announced it would allow the voting to be postponed until May 24 in 47 of the hardest-hit townships in Irrawaddy and Yangon.
  • 12 May 2008, United Nations In New York, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon expressed “deep concern” and “immense frustration” with what he called the unacceptably slow response to this grave humanitarian crisis. In unusually blunt language for a United Nation's leader, Mr. Ban said: “This is not about politics; it is about saving peoples lives. There is absolutely no more time to lose.”
  • 16 May 2008, Aid agencies were appalled today as the Burmese junta declared the relief effort in the country over, just as foreign observers said the number of dead and missing could be higher than 200,000. Underlining where its priorities lay, the junta declared an overwhelming vote in favour of a constitution. According to official results, turnout was above 99 percent and more than 92 percent approval of the charter. Burmese junta says relief effort 'finished' as death toll rises, The Times (UK)
  • 19 May 2008 -- Myanmar agreed to an ASEAN-led task force for redistributing foreign aid, and to medical teams from all ASEAN countries ASEAN will work with the UN to hold a donor conference in Yangon on May 25. (ASEAN = Association of Southeast Asian Nations). ASEAN to coordinate Myanmar aid effort, REUTERS.
  • 20 May 2008, Myanmar's junta has given the World Food Program permission to use helicopters to send aid to cyclone survivors, the United Nations said, as flags flew at half-staff across the country to mourn the dead. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon reported this when departing for a visit to Myanmar. Myanmar mourns dead as U.N. reports aid progress, REUTERS
  • 22 May 2008, While some aid is getting into help the cyclone-affected areas of Myanmar, it is estimated that only about one-fourth of the survivors have received help. UN General Secretary, Ban Ki-moon is in the country right now and will be meeting Friday, 23 May 2008, with General Than Shwe, the top national leader, to urge that relief from the international community be allowed to flow throughout the nation.
  • 6 June 2008 -- Burma's military junta lashed out at its own citizens and foreign media for what it called distorted coverage of the aftermath of a devastating cyclone. Junta attacks media's cyclone coverage
  • 24 June 2008 -- The Tripartite Core Group (TCG) was formed after the 19 May 2008 Special Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministerial Meeting in Singapore, and the 25 May 2008 ASEAN-United Nations International Pledging Conference in Yangon, Union of Myanmar. The TCG is to act as an ASEAN-led mechanism to facilitate trust, confidence and cooperation between Myanmar and the international community in the urgent humanitarian relief and recovery work after Cyclone Nargis. 1st Press Release of Tripartite Core Group Yangon Myanmar, 24 June 2008

[edit] Prayer

The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD; He directs it like a watercourse wherever He pleases. Proverbs 21:1

Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear. Isaiah 58:10

PRAY :

  • For the victims of Cyclone Nargis
    • for survivors who are suffering. Pray for humanitarian groups to be able to deliver relief supplies and other help to them soon.
    • for the GOD of comfort to bring them peace and hope through these dark days.
  • for effective relief response
    • that all those affected will receive food, clean drinking water, shelter, and access to medical care.
    • that God guides the leaders in relief efforts, so there will be good cooperation and coordination between the government, NGOs and other agencies.
    • for the safety of relief workers and their families.
    • that more helpers can come in.
    • to send back thousands of Myanmar people who have heart and skills to join in the relief work when international workers are prohibited to enter into the country.
  • for the churches and Christians in Myanmar
    • that they may be a SHINING LIGHT to the nation.
    • for all Burmese pastors, Christian leaders, teachers and Christians who are suffering. Pray for the Holy Spirit to fill the leaders with the wisdom, faith, grace and strength.
    • that churches may take the initiative to help the people. Christians can help their neighbors and others.
    • to empower and give wisdom to the Christian leaders in Myanmar in one accord to cooperate strongly and humbly as they come together to give servant leadership to assist the needy.
    • for some Christians who have lost loved ones. Pray that in their sorrow, they will experience God's love and be able to share His comfort.
    • for the unreached peoples groups in this country. The Irrawaddy River Delta in southern Myanmar is one of the more unreached areas in Asia. The overwhelming majority of people there are Buddhists.
  • for change in Myanmar
    • that God will work through the affliction caused by Cyclone Nargis to deliver Myanmar from its affliction of violent, repressive and totalitarian rule.
    • that God will open the ears of multitudes of Burmese to the Gospel.
    • that the government leaders may receive help from international groups. That they may allow churches to help the people in need. (I am very sad that we could not help our people. Our government never wants outside people know that there is natural disaster in Myanmar. Although they themselves could not help the people they never allow Christian groups or association to give assistance to people whenever disasters come, written by Charity).
    • May the Lord show Himself and His compassion and glory to the people who reject Him and who need Him desperately.
    • To break the power of Satan on Myanmar and the authorities who are very superstitious and make every single decision for the affair of our country from the advice of astrologers and fortune tellers. May God deliver them from all evil in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
  • June 18, 2008. Praise the Lord for a MIRACLE TODAY! The Myanmar Government allowed a US Air Force Cargo plane to land in Yangon full of supplies for who the MCCCR (Myanmar Christian Coalition for Cyclone Relief)! Would you join with us in praising Jesus? Hallelujah! A representative of the Ethne Frontier Crisis Response Network actually saw the plane land and begin unloading. He reports: "We are standing at a threshold of something happening here in Myanmar. MCCCCR has had impact beyond our wildest imagination. The Myanmar Council of Churches annual meeting was all about "what God is doing in bringing the Church in Myanmar together." He continues: "I just finished four hours with the leaders. They are all excited and full of faith and vision for the nation. May this bring HIM all the GLORY !! Forever and ever. Amen."

[edit] Agencies at Work

[edit] Church in Myanmar

  • How he church is suffering under regime in the country, see Myanmar.

[edit] External Links

Retrieved from "http://www.missionmanual.org/wiki/Cyclone_Nargis_2008"
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