A US soldier checks relief goods before being loaded into a plane for cyclone Nargis victims in Myanmar, at the Polonia Airport in Medan, Indonesia last week. Pic: AFP

ONE month after cyclone Nargis tore through lower Myanmar, causing massive destruction and affecting 2.5 million people in Ayeyarwady and Yangon divisions, the government has claimed that the relief phase of aid operations are nearly complete and the focus has shifted to reconstruction efforts.

“Due to concerted efforts of the ministries concerned, the people and private entrepreneurs, the relief task for the first phase has been completed in a short time and the rehabilitation task is in progress for the second phase,” Vice Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council Vice Senior General Maung Aye said last week.

He was speaking during a tour of storm-affected areas in Ayeyarwaddy Division on June 3.

“As relief works have almost been completed, continued efforts are to be made for reconstruction of storm-hit regions and regional development and improvement of the socioeconomic life of the local people,” he was reported as saying on the occasion by state-owned New Light of Myanmar.

The UN said last week that more than 1.3 million people, or about 50 percent of the people affected, have received some kind of humanitarian assistance, as more international aid workers were allowed into the country.

As of last week about US$260 million had been either pledged or provided for cyclone relief efforts in Myanmar, according to the UN.

The UN said its priorities were to supply storm victims with emergency relief goods, including food and medicine, and to provide emergency assistance for farmers to enable them to resume their work.

“Aid deliveries to the victims of cyclone Nargis have stepped up in recent days ,” a UN statement issued on June 4 said.

“We want better access for international aid workers, including non-government organisations and the International Red Cross Movement, both in terms of visas to get into the country, but also in terms of more consistent access to the delta areas,” a spokesperson from UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Ms Amanda Pitt, was quoted as saying in the statement.

The UN also said on June 5 that a total of 143 visas had been issued for its international relief workers.

“The number of international UN staff arriving in Myanmar per week has remained the same since mid-May and there are no reported obstacles for UN staff in receiving visas,” a UN report said.

The UN World Food Program (WFP) last week reported that improvements in logistical support have enabled it to transport 8500 tonnes of rice – enough to feed 750,000 people – to the worst-affected areas

However, the UN said it will need more than 65,000 tonnes of rice to feed the same number of people over the next six months.

The government has also granted the UN food agency permission to bring in 10 helicopters for its relief operations. As of last week, only one of them was in operation.

“We hope to have the nine additional helicopters ready in Bangkok by the end of the week,” WFP said.

As a part of its effort to provide livelihood support for cyclone victims, the UN Development Program has announced an income-generating scheme for about 100,000 survivors.

“The scheme aims to assist landless, poor people who depend on seasonal jobs. The cash-for-work initiatives will be used to clear and renovate villages as well as to help farmers plant crops or set up small businesses,” the UN statement said.

However, a more challenging aspect of providing livelihoods will be putting farmers in Ayeyarwaddy and Yangon divisions – Myanmar’s main rice growing areas – back to work cultivating their land.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has issued an urgent call for seeds “by the end of July at the latest to avoid further serious economic impact on rural areas and the country as a whole”.

FAO estimates that about 60pc of the paddy fields in the Ayewarwaddy delta have been affected by the cyclone and that 16pc of the area has been seriously damaged from salinity or dirty water.

“In some areas farmers have returned and have started some cultivation,” FAO spokesperson Ms Hiroyuki Konuma told reporters in Bangkok on June 4.
In another development, a 200-member ASEAN-led assessment team deployed last week to cyclone-affected areas in Ayeyarwaddy Division.

The team included government officials, representatives from ASEAN countries and UN experts, as well as 18 economic experts from the World Bank and eight from the Asian Development Bank, said an ASEAN statement issued on June 4.

The assessment was part of the tripartite coordinated relief plan involving the government, ASEAN and the UN.

“They are expected to cover the entire cyclone-affected area and compile firsthand information and raw data for compilation into a composite joint assessment report by mid-July 2008,” the statement said.

The ASEAN task force, headed by the grouping’s secretary general Mr Surin Pitsuwan, will coordinate with international donors to provide relief for storm-stricken areas based on the assessment team’s report.

“I am personally very pleased with the progress made so far by the Tripartite Core Group but the next two weeks would be crucial for building international confidence in this joint mission between ASEAN, the UN and the government of Myanmar,” said Mr Surin following a brief visit to Yangon on June 4.

Mr Surin held talks with Yangon-based senior diplomats from China, India and Bangladesh, as well as with members of non-government organisations.

“It is important to have the neighbours of Myanmar be part of our joint efforts in helping the victims of cyclone Nargis,” he said.