cyclone Nargis

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Aid reaching cyclone narvis victims in Myanmar

found at Hindu, India May 12, 2008

Despairing survivors of cyclone Nargis sit at a refugee centre in the town of Labutta, Myanmar, on Saturday awaiting international aid shipments.

Reuters

New York (PTI): The UN aid agencies have started dispatching relief supplies to Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta, hardest hit by cyclone Nargis, as reports said the survivors have started moving out the fertile area in search of food.

The World Food Programme (WFP) said that its relief supplies have reached more than 27,000 people in the delta and 28 tons of high-energy biscuits, enough to feed 95,000 people, had been sent to the area.

This image shows Cyclone Nargis in the Bay of Bengal on Friday, May 2, 2008. (AP / NASA)

"In an encouraging development, 28 tons of high-energy biscuits -- which arrived in Yangon on Friday and are enough to feed 95,000 with first rations -- were on Saturday handed to WFP," the agency said. An additional 10 tons of biscuits arrived over weekend on two Thai Airways commercial planes.

The 28 tons of biscuits were collected Sunday and transported immediately for distribution among the victims of the cyclone which might have killed up to 100,000 people and left more than 1.5 million in need of urgent relief supplies.

Other crucial supplies such as temporary warehousing with generators were flown in from Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh and given to WFP Saturday. They will be immediately sent to the Irrawaddy region as it seeks to establish field offices to handle a major food distribution operation, the agency said.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees sent the first land convoy of emergency supplies -- including tents and plastic sheeting for some 10,000 people -- into Myanmar, crossing over from Thailand.

"This convoy marks a positive step in an aid effort so far marked by challenges and constraints," said Raymond Hall, the agency's Representative in Thailand. "We hope it opens up a possible corridor to allow more international aid to reach the cyclone victims."

People walk past fallen trees at a street in Myanmar's biggest city Yangon Saturday, May 3, 2008, after cyclone Nargis. ( photo AP / Xinhua, Zhang Yunfei)