OCHA Situation Report No. 33
Myanmar: Cyclone Nargis
19 June 2008


Source:
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

SITUATION OVERVIEW

1. Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar on 2 and 3 May 2008, making landfall in 
the Ayeyarwady Division and passing into Yangon Division before hitting 
the former capital, Yangon. With the wind speed of up to 200 km/h the 
damage was the most severe in the delta region, where the effects of the 
extreme winds were compounded by a sizable storm surge. Eye-witness 
accounts suggest that the tidal surge in some areas was more than 10 feet 
high. Some 2.4 million people are believed to have been affected by the 
cyclone, of a total 4.7 million people living in the affected Townships. 
The latest official figures put the number of dead or missing at more than 
130,000.

2. UNICEF reports that the camp population in Laputta has declined from 
over 40,000 to an estimated 10,000. In Bogalay proper, all camps have now 
been closed. The Government of Myanmar has established four transit sites 
at villages in Bogalay Township from where people will be encouraged to 
return to their villages. In Myaung Mya the Government has been assisting 
people to return to their villages, mostly in Laputta Township. The camp 
population at the two sites officially recognized by the government is now 
down from 13,000 to 3,700. There are also around 800 people in three 
informal camps. In Pathein, which was unaffected by the cyclone, all camps 
have now been closed. The 3,000 people formerly living in camps have 
returned to their villages, mostly in Laputta. In Mawlamyinegyun proper, 
all camps have been closed, with the displaced returning to their 
villages. In Pyapon proper, where there were around 37 camps hosting 
around 17,000 people, all camps steadily closed during the course of May.

3. A Tripartite Core Group (TCG), consisting of high-level representatives 
of the Government of Myanmar, ASEAN and the UN, was established at a donor 
conference in Yangon on 25 May to oversee the coordination of relief 
assistance. The TCG is currently coordinating a comprehensive 
multi-sectoral needs assessment in the cyclone-affected areas. Field 
surveys for the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment (PONJA) have been taking 
place from 10-19 June, with some 250 assessment personnel visiting 30 of 
the worst-affected Townships. Data-entry for the assessment is now well 
underway. The assessment consists of humanitarian needs (Village Tract 
Assessment/VTA) and damage components (Damage and Loss Assessment/DaLA).

4. Since new Government guidelines for international organizations 
providing assistance in cycloneaffected areas were introduced on 10 June, 
UN agencies and NGOs have been reporting increasing problems with 
obtaining visas and travel permits for international staff to visit the 
affected areas. In many cases the line-ministries now responsible for 
processing requests have not been provided with new instructions, which 
have caused significant delays.

NATIONAL RESPONSE

5. The Government of Myanmar's New Light of Myanmar newspaper reports that 
Prime Minister General Thein Sein, who is the Chairman of the National 
Disaster Preparedness Central Committee (NDPCC), visited cyclone-affected 
areas on 16 and 17 June. The Prime Minister went to the relief camps in 
Myaungmya and Labutta on 16 June, before visiting the affected villages in 
Ngapudaw Township on 17 June.

6. The International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) reports that the 
Myanmar Red Cross Society (MRCS), working with the IFRC and the ICRC, has 
reached 302,000 beneficiaries with water, food and other relief items as 
of 15 June. More than 80% of these beneficiaries are reportedly located in 
the Ayeyarwady delta. Approximately 10,000 people per day are being 
reached. MRCS has 27,000 registered volunteers spread working in Myanmar. 
As many as 10,000 Red Cross volunteers are estimated to be active in 
responding to the cyclone at any one time.

INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE

7. The following information is provided by the clusters, which meet 
regularly to coordinate the humanitarian response of national and 
international NGOs, the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement and UN agencies. 
For more detailed information on cluster activities please visit the 
Humanitarian Information Centre (HIC) website: 
http://myanmar.humanitarianinfo.org.

Attachments:
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/retrieveattachments?openagent&docidyCABF97EC681E8F8525746D005CA46C&file=Full.Report.pdf


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