A Save the Children emergency assessment team has just returned from three of the areas of Yangon Division worst affected by Cyclone Nargis which struck Myanmar in the early hours of Saturday.

We need your help - please donate now:
Donate online
Download a Myanmar (Burma) Cyclone Donation Form [Adobe PDF, 69 Kb] and post it or fax it to us, or
Call our toll free number 1800 76 00 11 and donate over the phone.


According to Andrew Kirkwood, country director of Save the Children, "Older people I've spoken to in Yangon say this is the worst storm they've seen in the 60 years they've been alive. Everyone recognises this was unprecedented."

Cyclone Nargis hit the south west corner of Myanmar with winds of 120 miles per hour battering coastal areas. Current media reports estimate more than 10,000 people have been killed with a further 3,000 missing. Save the Children estimates that many thousands could be homeless across Myanmar.

Save the Children estimated that in the outlying area of Rangoon where it works, between 50,000 and 100,000 people had no shelter after their flimsy homes were wrecked.

"I think more than 1 million people could be homeless very easily,there are 7 million living in the Irrawaddy delta area and it has been hugely affected with 90% to 95% of houses destroyed in some places."

"In the city the main problem, absolutely, is water," said Kirkwood. "In the urban areas, the water is less of a problem. But people without shelter are gathering in schools, monasteries and temples where sanitation is the worry. We've examples of 1,000 and 1,500 altogether."

Firm information is hard to come by, but early indications from Save the Children aid workers in Yangon estimate is that more than 50,000 local residents could be without shelter in the three townships that we have accessed in Yangon Division. Displaced people are gathering in school buildings, monasteries, churches and mosques. Some shelters are crammed with 1,000 people or more.

Save the Children is working in all five of the worst hit areas and earlier today bought two metric tonnes of food, plus plastic sheeting and non - food items to distribute to those hit hardest by the disaster.

The distributions will start today as aid workers continue with the emergency needs assessment. The initial Save the Children response will reach 10,000 affected people but this number is likely to increase as Save the Children moves to the second stage of its emergency response, providing water purification kits, items for shelter and cash to displaced families.

The Burmese authorities have declared a state of emergency in five areas: Rangoon District (Yangon), Pegu Division, Mon State, Karen State and the Irrawaddy Division. An estimated 24 million people live in these five areas that have been hit hard by Cyclone Nargis.

A large number of villages are reported to have been damaged or destroyed along the coastal areas of the Irrawaddy Delta. An estimated seven million people live around the delta area which is where the country’s rice supply is grown. The disaster is likely to increase already high food prices.



Help us help the children and families in Myanmar (Burma) - donate now:
Donate online
Download a Myanmar Burma Cyclone Donation Form [Adobe PDF, 69 Kb] and post it or fax it to us, or
Call our toll free number 1800 76 00 11 and donate over the phone.