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Geneva
(16 May 2008)
Excellencies, Friends,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
First
of all, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Mr.
Putmar Cramer and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs for
organizing this briefing.
On 2 and 3 May 2008, powerful cyclone Nargis had
severely hit five regions in
The National Disaster Preparedness Central Committee
headed by the Prime Minister immediately conducted the emergency relief
measures in the cyclone affected areas. Since
then, the Committee has been supervising the distribution of emergency relief
supplies to the victims and the rescue works.
The victims have been evacuated to the relief camps and accommodated at
the safe places. So far, 800,000
people have been evacuated into the shelter.
The Government declared these five areas as
disaster-struck areas on 3 May 2008. Among
these five regions, severe damage was resulted in the Ayeyawady Division and
Yangon Division which are low-lying areas as well as close to the sea.
The cyclone Nargis destroyed many lives and property in
the affected areas, left several people homeless.
As a result, the electricity, telecommunication, waterway,
transportation and all infrastructure have been severely destroyed and
damaged. As of 15 May 2008, there
were 43,318 deaths, 1,403 injured and 27,838 missing.
According to the assessment, 132,509 houses were
collapsed and 165,592 buildings were left roofless in Ayeyawady Division.
1,846 huts and 14 state-owned buildings were collapsed in Bago
Division. 292 houses were
collapsed in
The Government is making best efforts of clearing
debris, access of safe drinking water, electricity, communication services and
smooth transportation. 1700 UN
personnel from 10 UN agencies, the UN Country Team, 10,000 volunteers from the
National Red Cross network and national and international NGOs are actively
working together with the Government in the relief efforts.
The Government has employed
six divisions of the military in its relief efforts.
The Government immediately pledged 20 billion Kyats for
emergency relief works. The
private sectors in
Excellencies, Friends,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We have received emergency relief provisions in kind as
well as in cash from the governments, international organizations,
humanitarian organizations, NGOs and individuals via air, sea and land. The
relief supplies are distributed to the victims without delay.
Everyday, approximately 10 aircraft loaded with emergency relief aids
have landed at
I would like to share some updates we have been able to
do in last few days with you. By
May 12, (361) tons of the relief from the WFP has been delivered to the
disaster areas by boats, ships, helicopters and motor vehicles.
On May 13, (526) tons of relief supplies were delivered by ships. First
aids and health kits, plastic sheeting, tarpauline and mosquito nets have been
distributed to 276,000 affected people. In
recent days, we have been distributing water purification machines as well as
1.4 millions of water purification tablets.
The WHO has informed that as of 12 May, there has been no outbreak of
diseases such as diarrhea, typhoid and malaria.
Excellencies, Friends,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The following regions have returned to normal, and
therefore, the Government removed
these areas from the list of disaster-struck areas on 7 May 2008:
1) Bago
Division
2)
3)
4) Five
townships in Yangon Division
5) 19
townships in Ayeyawady Division
Forty townships from Yangon Division and seven from
Ayeyawady Division remain as disaster-struck areas, and relief and
rehabilitation works are currently being carried out.
The affected regions are highly populated areas in the
country. Ayeyawady Division is a
delta region and its soil is fertile. Production
volume of its agricultural, fish and meat industries is large. Beside,
Ayeyawady is also renowned as the rice bowl of
There have been an influx of salty water from the sea
in the land areas. Paddy fields in Ayeyawady Division and Yangon Division have
been flooded .Many cattle used for the cultivation were killed and plantation
and harvesting tools have been washed away and damaged.
Therefore, peasants and farmers will not be able to resume their
plantation and farming works in forthcoming month.
As people living in these areas are completely
depending on the agricultural industry, it highly demands the short-term and
long-term plans of relief, recovery and reconstruction in agriculture sector.
The followings are urgently needed
for the farmers and paddy
fields in Ayeyawaddy Division and Yangon Division:
·
Tractors (16-22 HP)
·
Outboat engines(5-20 HP)
·
Water Pumps
·
Generators , diesel and fuel to run the generator
·
equipment for fisherman
·
pesticides and sprayers
·
fertilizers
·
small appliances for peasants
The detail preliminary assessment and
requirements prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation
have been distributed in the room for your information.
Excellencies, Friends,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
For the short-term, the affected population
urgently need food, medicines, construction materials, roofs, plastic
sheets, tents, water purification tablets, clothing, electricity, generators,
construction kits for engineers and builders, telecommunication
as well as financial assistance. The
clearance and removal of debris have been carried out.
But we are still struggling with the shortage of clean waters and
electricity outage , telecommunication broke down.
In view of the severe damage, the large amount of the
financial provisions as well as material provisions are desperately needed for
the long term reconstruction.
As many remote areas were hit by the cyclone, relief
teams are having difficulties to distribute the supplies for those who live in
the above-mentioned areas. In this
regard, rubber boats and small boats will be very useful to navigate on
small and narrow waterways.
Many debris are blocking the waterways and roads. Many
construction works are to be done for those who have lost their homes.
Besides, there are many victims who are still living in the
houses which have been damaged during the cyclone.
Therefore, renovation and reconstruction works will have to be started
for them . As the monsoon is
coming in mid-May, it is very important to locate and accommodate them in the
safe and secured places.
Excellencies, Friends,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As the Government is facing huge amount of challenges,
we are not yet ready to accommodate all visa requests made by various agencies
and organizations. However, we
have already authorized the visas for experts from OCHA, WFP, WMO, UNHCR,
ICRC, EU and Medicins Sans Frontieres.
Presently, the utmost priority for the Government of
Myanmar is to help these affected population to return to their normal life
and to rebuild the economic mechanisms which had been destroyed during the
cyclone.
We believe that to focus on this important and urgent
priority, the international community can help their best by providing
financial assistance as well as material assistance for the short-term plans
and long-term plans.
The relief and resettle works have been divided into three
phases and carried out with the internal and international assistance as
follows:
The Government has also invited
medical doctors and nurses from
Excellencies, Friends,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Certain foreign media has been making false allegations
and criticisms against the Government of Myanmar's efforts.
I believe these allegations intend nothing more than to politicize the
situation and to obstruct the international community's rescue and relief
effort. It will not help to
improve the challenges we are facing right now.
Once again, I wish to express our profound gratitude to
all of you for the generosity and the readiness in providing contributions and
donations in kind and in cash to the affected population in
I hope with your generosity and assistance, we will be
able to save and resettle the lives of the storm victims in
I thank you all.
