IRIN
MYANMAR: Funding crunch could ground cyclone helicopters
23 June 2008


BANGKOK, 23 June 2008 (IRIN) - The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has 
warned that its relief flights into Myanmar's cyclone-stricken 
Ayeyarwady Delta could end soon without additional money to keep its 10 
helicopters in the air.

WFP operates two French-designed Puma helicopters and eight Soviet-era 
MI-8s, which have been carrying water purification systems, food and 
other relief supplies to survivors of Cyclone Nargis.

But in a 20 June appeal, the agency said it might have to cut the 
helicopters - which cost about US$2,000 per hour to fly - without 
immediate additional funding.

WFP has received only 60 percent of the estimated $50 million it needs 
for logistics for the first three months of the disaster's aftermath.

Of the total, about $20 million is supposed be allocated to helicopters, 
while other funds are spent on planes ferrying supplies from the Bangkok 
logistics hub in neighbouring Thailand to Yangon International Airport, 
and on ground transport inside Myanmar.

"The use of the helicopters remains critical to the overall humanitarian 
relief effort," Paul Risley, a WFP spokesman, told IRIN. "The money we 
have right now will keep us to the end of the month. At that point, we 
have to reassess what is feasible and what is possible."

The agency's financial crunch reflects the wider difficulties 
confronting the relief operation for survivors of Nargis, which left an 
estimated 133,000 people dead or missing when it struck on 2 and 3 May.

According to the UN's Financial Tracking Service, the UN and 
participating aid agencies have received only 65 percent of the $201 
million they had sought for an emergency flash appeal for the first 
phase of the relief operation, amid persistent concerns among donors 
about international aid workers' access to the disaster-stricken area.

New assessment

A new assessment, involving the UN, Myanmar authorities and Association 
of South East Asian Nations, will be presented on 24 June. The UN says 
the assessment will form the basis of a revised humanitarian appeal for 
the cyclone relief effort, which will be launched in July in Geneva.

However, Risley said it could not wait that long to raise additional 
revenues for the helicopters, which were chartered from private 
companies after Myanmar authorities made clear they would not allow 
military helicopters from either western or regional governments to join 
the relief effort.

"More funding will be needed to complete the task by helicopter of 
providing food to all the areas that have yet to be reached," he said.

Since the helicopters were put into action on 2 June - a month after the 
cyclone - they have delivered more than 200 metric tonnes (MT) of 
supplies, including 184MT of rice, pulses, cooking oil and salt, and 
32MT of non-food items, such as shelter equipment, according to WFP.

The helicopters are ferrying supplies from centres in Yangon and Pathein 
to three food hubs in Bogalay, Pyapon and Labutta. From there, supplies 
are transferred to WFP's partners, including NGOs and the Myanmar Red 
Cross, for distribution by boat to villages.

But the helicopters - which have the capacity to carry loads of up to 
2MT either in the cargo hold or in swings underneath - have also carried 
relief supplies directly to 67 remote locations where no international 
assistance had been delivered.

"There are still villages that are so remote and so difficult to access 
even by water that the helicopters are providing the first-ever 
assistance received in these villages," Risley said. "They are flying to 
all these places that would take hours to get to by boat."

The choppers have also been used for the evacuation of two seriously ill 
children from remote areas; transporting medical teams to remote areas, 
and delivering heavy water purification systems.

WFP also has two large barges and smaller boats to monitor food 
distribution in remote areas.

However, without additional funding, Risley said, the crucial 
helicopters would have to be cut back. "We will not be able to maintain 
10 helicopters in operation for much longer," he warned.


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