Myanmar - Cyclone Nargis

Cyclone Nargis struck the southwest coast of Myanmar (Burma) on Saturday, May 3, 2008 with wind gusts up to 240 kph. Current estimates are that over 1.5 million people have been severely affected by this disaster, with as many as 100,000 feared dead and more than one million people homeless. Communication lines have been badly damaged and roads travel is difficult. The needs are great, and Canadians donated generously to support the relief efforts.

One year after - RELEASE

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Read below to learn more about what the member agencies are doing to help.

Care Canada Logo

Activities to date - Cyclone Nargis

One year on, CARE has supported 304,265 people in 195 villages in the most affected regions.

CARE has implemented a three-phase recovery plan to assist with the immediate relief as well as the ongoing rehabilitation of livelihoods, infrastructure and business. The entire response is expected to take at least three years.

In addition to the 500 CARE staff working in Myanmar prior to the cyclone, CARE has employed an additional 300 staff to assist with the delivery of the Cyclone Nargis recovery plan.

CARE's shelter activities met temporary needs of survivors and now focus on the construction of more sustainable housing.

Farmers have been provided with diesel, thresher machines and tractors. Fertiliser and paddy seeds have also been distributed, as well as training in compost making and harvest technology. CARE will target 10,000 households in the next crucial planting period for the monsoon rice harvest, that 85 per cent of the population depend on for food.

CARE expects to vaccinate 60,000 cattle and buffalos against foot and mouth disease. To date, 9,583 cattle and buffaloes from the Irrawaddy region and 22,857 in Yangon have received their first round of vaccinations and 8,944 cattle and buffaloes in the Yangon division have received booster vaccinations.

CARE continues to implement a range of Water, sanitation and health (WASH) activities including pond renovation, new pond construction, pond fencing, hand tube wells, deep tube wells, shallow tube wells, hygiene promotion, water quality testing and water distribution. Salinity continues to be a serious issue in some areas. Drinking water distribution is ongoing in 15 villages with 2,065 households receiving 83,034 litres of safe water every week. To date, 135 hygiene promotion activities have been carried out in 21 villages.

Ahead of the one-year Cyclone Nargis Memorial, CARE is conducting a range of psychosocial support activities with affected communities to assist in the emotional recovery of those affected.

General food distributions are ongoing in target villages. Following the loss of up to 80 per cent of yields in the December rice harvest, food distributions that were intended to finish at the end of April 2009 will now continue to the end of the year.

Livelihood recovery in the fisheries sector continues. CARE has released 500,000 shrimp fingerlings and 800,000 prawn fingerlings into waterways and has distributed 200 cast nets, 160 push nets and 8,000 crab traps to 3,606 people throughout 18 villages.

More than 100 vulnerable women have been selected to receive a small trader grants for income generation.

Activities to mitigate and protect communities from future disasters have included awareness-raising, hazard mapping and community action planning at the household and community level, and construction of 'Lifesaving Hills' to protect communities from future tidal surges and flash flooding.

Oxfam Canada Logo

Activities to date - Cyclone Nargis

Oxfam has reached approximately half a million people with aid following Cyclone Nargis.

Oxfam has provided 64 000 households with water-related support. This has included giving people emergency water and reconstructing water infrastructure systems, or providing water storage containers.

Oxfam has given approximately 53,000 households emergency shelter materials to protect them from the elements or assistance to rebuild their homes.

Oxfam has given approximately 11 000 households fishing or farming support so that they can continue to generate an income.

Oxfam has given approximately 26,000 households food or cash-for-work support to assist in small-scale rehabilitation of infrastructure or to receive vocational training to build their capacity to earn an income.

Oxfam has supported the rehabilitation of early childhood care and development centers and schools provided school supplies, uniforms, and books.

Oxfam is providing radios to communities as an early warning radio system that would benefit 45 000 villagers.

Oxfam and our partners are now supporting communities on the very long road to recovery.

Oxfam's direct cyclone response work is a three-year programme, and in the next two years, subject to funding, aims to reach 243 000 people in the hardest-hit townships in the Ayeyarwardy delta with livelihoods and water and sanitation support.

Oxfam are working to restore agricultural and fisheries production to pre-cyclone levels so that people in the region can generate an income to feed themselves and their families and avoid getting further into debt.

Oxfam is working to reduce long-term public health risks and are safeguarding people from water-borne diseases, by helping communities to restore their water supplies and through distributing pots, buckets and water purification means and building latrines.

Save The Children Canada Logo

Activities to date - Cyclone Nargis

Save the Children has been working to improve the lives and well-being of children and families in Myanmar for about 14 years. The agency, which had 500 staff members in country when the cyclone struck, launched an immediate and sustained relief effort, providing life-saving and life-sustaining assistance to storm survivors as well as working to reunite separated children with their families, provide health services, get children back into school and support them in their emotional and psychological recovery. In the months following Cyclone Nargis, Save the Children was able to mount one of its largest emergency responses in its history.

The agency has helped 137,000 children get back into school; supported 40,000 families with cash grants to restart their livelihoods; and provided 60,000 people with drinking water through the height of the dry season, among other programs. Save the Children also has been working with children and their communities to plan and prepare for future disasters, strengthen schools and other structures, and map evacuation routes. In the year following Cyclone Nargis, Save the Children has assisted over 600,000 people, half of them children, who were most affected by the storm.

Recovery from the storm has been uneven. While commercial centers are showing good signs of recovery, more remote areas and those most affected by Nargis are still struggling. There is not enough work for the landless poor, which make up an estimated 50 percent of the Delta's population.