CHURCH WORLD SERVICE: EMERGENCY RESPONSE PROGRAM
CWS INITIAL EMERGENCY APPEAL: MYANMAR (BURMA) CYCLONE NARGIS RESPONSE
May 5, 2008


SITUATION: Thousands of people have been killed or are missing in Burma 
as Tropical Cyclone Nargis pushed ashore over the weekend.  BBC News 
reports three-quarters of structures in the Irrawaddy region were 
destroyed by fierce winds, rain and storm surge. A United Nations relief 
worker in Yangon tells the Associated Press villages in the Irrawaddy 
Delta have been completely flattened. On Haing-gyi Island, along the 
country's southwest coast, an estimated 20,000 homes have been 
destroyed, leaving at least 90,000 homeless.

Profiteering is already starting to grip those coping in the storm's 
aftermath, with prices on food, fuel and building supplies shooting up 
300 percent. The General Secretary of the Myanmar Council of Churches 
reports communication abilities throughout Burma have been compromised.


CWS RESPONSE: Immediate relief operations are underway with a 
comprehensive assessment on-going.  The CWS Asia Regional Office is in 
direct contact with the Myanmar Council of Churches and in coming days 
this initial appeal will be expanded to reflect needed support for 
longer-term recovery efforts of the Myanmar Council of Churches and its 
members.

Contributions to support this emergency appeal may be sent to your 
denomination or to Church World Service, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN, 
46515.  Please designate: Myanmar (Burma) Cyclone Nargis Response.  For 
further information about disasters to which Church World Service is 
responding please visit www.churchworldservice.org or call the CWS 
Hotline, (800) 297-1516.

CWS Emergency Response Program special contacts: (212) 870-3151

Program Director: dderr@churchworldservice.org
Domestic Response: bvollmering@churchworldservice.org

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