International Rescue Committee (IRC)

Myanmar: Clinging to Survival

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Photo: (Photo: The IRC)
  • <p>MISERY ABOUNDS: Nearly three weeks after Cyclone Nargis pummeled Myanmar&rsquo;s southwestern coast, devastating homes and farms and killing tens of thousands of people, more than two million survivors remain in dire need of basic services, yet access to them is tragically limited. Only an estimated 25% of those in need of help are getting it.</p>
    (Photo: The IRC)

    MISERY ABOUNDS: Nearly three weeks after Cyclone Nargis pummeled Myanmar’s southwestern coast, devastating homes and farms and killing tens of thousands of people, more than two million survivors remain in dire need of basic services, yet access to them is tragically limited. Only an estimated 25% of those in need of help are getting it.

  • <p>WAITING FOR AID: Outside of Yangon, thousands of destitute, weary and hungry cyclone victims line the roads. &ldquo;They wait for help &ndash; homeless, cold, sick and hungry &ndash; and get lashed by more rain,&rdquo; says IRC&rsquo;s emergency coordinator in Myanmar, Gordon Bacon. &ldquo;So the sick get sicker, instead of staying warm and dry and getting the care they require.&rdquo;</p>
    (Photo: The IRC)

    WAITING FOR AID: Outside of Yangon, thousands of destitute, weary and hungry cyclone victims line the roads. “They wait for help – homeless, cold, sick and hungry – and get lashed by more rain,” says IRC’s emergency coordinator in Myanmar, Gordon Bacon. “So the sick get sicker, instead of staying warm and dry and getting the care they require.”

  • <p>SEEKING SHELTER: Thousands of homeless people from flooded areas in the Irrawaddy Delta are seeking shelter to their immediate north in Wakema Township, where the IRC has started delivering urgent supplies. More people arrive here every day, crowding into school classrooms, prayer rooms at monasteries and other makeshift settlements. They come with next to nothing.</p>
    (Photo: The IRC)

    SEEKING SHELTER: Thousands of homeless people from flooded areas in the Irrawaddy Delta are seeking shelter to their immediate north in Wakema Township, where the IRC has started delivering urgent supplies. More people arrive here every day, crowding into school classrooms, prayer rooms at monasteries and other makeshift settlements. They come with next to nothing.

  • <p>STORIES OF LOSS:&ldquo;Everyone has stories of losing parents and children and every story will break your heart,&rdquo; says an IRC volunteer. &ldquo;One man managed to grab his baby girl as he was lifted by a wave into a tree. He was able to grasp a branch with his free hand and that&rsquo;s how he and his daughter survived. But his wife and home got carried away in the fierce waters. Everyone is struggling to come to terms with what has happened.</p>
    (Photo: The IRC)

    STORIES OF LOSS:“Everyone has stories of losing parents and children and every story will break your heart,” says an IRC volunteer. “One man managed to grab his baby girl as he was lifted by a wave into a tree. He was able to grasp a branch with his free hand and that’s how he and his daughter survived. But his wife and home got carried away in the fierce waters. Everyone is struggling to come to terms with what has happened.

  • <p>COMPASSIONATE VOLUNTEERS: On this day, IRC volunteers are en route to the storm-ravaged district of Kunyangon where they will deliver shelter supplies, clothing and other items. Before the journey, the volunteers purchase sweet buns filled with jam in anticipation of the hungry villagers who would be cramming the road.</p>
    (Photo: The IRC)

    COMPASSIONATE VOLUNTEERS: On this day, IRC volunteers are en route to the storm-ravaged district of Kunyangon where they will deliver shelter supplies, clothing and other items. Before the journey, the volunteers purchase sweet buns filled with jam in anticipation of the hungry villagers who would be cramming the road.

  • <p>A WARM WELCOME: Displaced villagers greet the IRC distribution team as they arrive in Kunyangon town. It is our third day of delivering goods in this area on the south eastern edge of the Irrawaddy Delta. The IRC team was the first to arrive with aid. Close to the sea, the township was severely lashed by the cyclone. Every where here trees are downed, houses are flattened and rice fields are flooded. The need here is immense.</p>
    (Photo: The IRC)

    A WARM WELCOME: Displaced villagers greet the IRC distribution team as they arrive in Kunyangon town. It is our third day of delivering goods in this area on the south eastern edge of the Irrawaddy Delta. The IRC team was the first to arrive with aid. Close to the sea, the township was severely lashed by the cyclone. Every where here trees are downed, houses are flattened and rice fields are flooded. The need here is immense.

  • <p>COORDINATION: The Myanmar Red Cross helps direct the distribution team to communities in desperate need.</p>
    (Photo: The IRC)

    COORDINATION: The Myanmar Red Cross helps direct the distribution team to communities in desperate need.

  • <p>GOODWILL: The team discusses a distribution plan with a local monastery which has been working tirelessly to help the community with little means to do so. Together, we unload tarps (for added protection from the rain), blankets, clothing, mosquito netting and cooking supplies.</p>
    (Photo: The IRC)

    GOODWILL: The team discusses a distribution plan with a local monastery which has been working tirelessly to help the community with little means to do so. Together, we unload tarps (for added protection from the rain), blankets, clothing, mosquito netting and cooking supplies.

  • <p>URGENT NEED FOR MEDICAL EXPERTS: The IRC team also delivers plastic buckets so that people can collect rain water. For days now, they&rsquo;ve been drinking contaminated water, which is contributing to increased cases of dysentery and other water-borne diseases. A severe shortage of clean water and medical services raises concern of a second wave of deaths from preventable and treatable conditions, making it all the more vital to speed the arrival of emergency medical and environmental health specialists.</p>
    (Photo: The IRC)

    URGENT NEED FOR MEDICAL EXPERTS: The IRC team also delivers plastic buckets so that people can collect rain water. For days now, they’ve been drinking contaminated water, which is contributing to increased cases of dysentery and other water-borne diseases. A severe shortage of clean water and medical services raises concern of a second wave of deaths from preventable and treatable conditions, making it all the more vital to speed the arrival of emergency medical and environmental health specialists.

  • <p>IN THE PIPELINE: The IRC is poised to receive 40 tons of mostly donated critical relief supplies being flown into Yangon from around the world. The emergency stocks, from the Spanish Government, Muslim Aid, Global Medics and other donors, include medicines, water purification and treatment materials, cholera response and hygiene kits and plastic sheeting. IRC emergency coordinator Gordon Bacon was at the airport in Yangon as the first shipment, a US government aid flight, touched down in Yangon. &ldquo;We are working to get these supplies to the survivors as fast as we can,&rdquo; says Bacon. &ldquo;But the amount of aid and relief workers coming in is a fraction of what&rsquo;s needed. We need a tsunami-level humanitarian response and we need it now, before it&rsquo;s too late.&rdquo;</p>
    (Photo: The IRC)

    IN THE PIPELINE: The IRC is poised to receive 40 tons of mostly donated critical relief supplies being flown into Yangon from around the world. The emergency stocks, from the Spanish Government, Muslim Aid, Global Medics and other donors, include medicines, water purification and treatment materials, cholera response and hygiene kits and plastic sheeting. IRC emergency coordinator Gordon Bacon was at the airport in Yangon as the first shipment, a US government aid flight, touched down in Yangon. “We are working to get these supplies to the survivors as fast as we can,” says Bacon. “But the amount of aid and relief workers coming in is a fraction of what’s needed. We need a tsunami-level humanitarian response and we need it now, before it’s too late.”

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(May 2008) While aid deliveries have increased to cyclone-ravaged communities, hundreds of thousands of survivors continue to languish—waiting in desperation for more food, water and medical care to arrive.  As the International Rescue Committee’s Melissa Winkler reports, every day IRC teams have been delivering urgent relief supplies to people barely clinging to survival.  (All photos taken by IRC staff and volunteers)