The amount of Red Cross Red Crescent aid going into cyclone devastated Myanmar will increase significantly this week, with the announcement of five 40-ton charter flights scheduled to depart from Kuala Lumpur for Yangon.
“The needs of survivors in large parts of the country remain acute… These larger flights will make our operations more cost and time-effective, and most importantly enable us to send more aid into Myanmar,” said Igor Dmitryuk, Head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ regional logistics unit in Kuala Lumpur.
Twenty-five Red Cross Red Crescent flights have already arrived in Yangon carrying a total of 302 tons of essential relief items. This week’s additional flights will see at least a further 230 tons arrive in country, though more flights are being arranged and confirmed every day. Most of these flights have originated in Kuala Lumpur, with some coming from other regional and global hubs.
With wet and rainy conditions threatening to bring further anguish to the hundreds of thousands of people suffering from the devastation caused by Cylone Nargis, this increased momentum is particularly important, explained John Sparrow, the International Federation’s spokesman in Bangkok.
“We are now scaling up our operations in Myanmar, and distributing more and more relief to areas devastated by the cyclone in and around Yangon and in the delta,” said Sparrow.
“Emergency shelter and access to clean water remain priorities. While the relief pipeline we have established will help us to reach more people, more is needed if we are to avert a catastrophe on an even greater scale.”
The Red Cross Red Crescent relief pipeline has so far carried 42,000 mosquito nets, 36,000 tarpaulins, shelter kits for around 35,000 people, over 20,000 jerry cans, and over 7,000 kitchen kits into Yangon.
More importantly, from distribution points in Yangon, Myanmar Red Cross volunteers have worked tirelessly to distribute more than 180,000 water purification tablets, 28,000 litres of clean drinking water, 23,000 items of clothing, and 12,000 jerry cans to tens of thousands of cyclone survivors in affected areas, including Laputta and Bogale.
The work of these Red Cross volunteers is all the more remarkable given that many of them have been personally affected by Nargis.
Thein Tun Aung is a volunteer at Red Cross headquarters in Yangon. “I am still worried about many of my friends living in the affected area,” he said. “I am eager to work here and want to contribute to help our people.”
The International Federation has launched an emergency appeal for 52.8 million Swiss francs (USD 50.8 million / euro 32.7 million) to support 500,000 survivors over the next three years.
For more information on the Red Cross Red Crescent operation visit www.ifrc.org/myanmar