UK Foreign Minister visits aid workers in Burma
The UK minister for Africa, Asia and the UN, Lord Malloch Brown, arrived in Burma this morning, visiting aid workers responding to the cyclone. Mr Brown spoke to Save the Children who have reached 120,000 people, including around 50,000 children.
Saturday 17 May 2008
Lord Malloch Brown said: "Not enough aid is getting in and not enough aid workers are able to get out in the region, particularly international workers with long experience of disaster relief. That's a real problem. Encouraging news is that organisations like Save the Children have been exploiting their long presence in the country and have been doing much more than noticed. Amongst all the bad news there are these glimmers of hope."
Ken Caldwell, Save the Children's Director of International Operations, said: "Our biggest concern today is that there are still many hundreds and thousands of people who have yet to be reached with any humanitarian aid. Two weeks into this disaster it''s important for people to recognise that whilst thousands of people have received the aid they desperately need we still have many more to reach. Children are in a particularly fragile situation. We are very worried about children who were already malnourished before the cyclone. If we don't get food to them in the coming days they are at severe risk."
Ends
- Save the Children are part of the Disaster Emergency Committee
- Save the Children have been working in Burma for 13 years. The organisation has 500 Burmese aid workers on the ground who have been delivering vital aid supplies to survivors.
- We have reached over 90,000 people around Yangon and around 30,000 in the Irrawaddy delta. We are reaching around 15,000 more people each day.
- For further information please the media unit on: 07831 650 409
