Save the Children launches £5 million Myanmar (Burma) Cyclone Appeal
Save the Children is today launching a global emergency appeal to help children and families after their homes were destroyed by Cyclone Nargis.
Tuesday 6 May 2008
Amanda Weisbaum, head of emergency response for Save the Children said: "This is a disaster on an enormous scale. The full human impact is only now becoming clear."
Weisbaum: "Families are using flood water and water from lakes. Food is available but the cost has gone up by 50%. Public transport prices have risen 1000%. Fuel and all transport are hard to source and, with a few exceptions, electricity and landline communications have also been cut."
The charity is already responding to the emergency by providing food, water purification tablets, plastic sheeting, kitchen equipment and rehydration salts to an initial 30,000 families whose homes have been destroyed. These materials will help them provide for themselves and keep up their levels of sanitation. Trucks and boats and other logistical support are also needed to help distribute the materials.
Amanda Weisbaum said: "The situation is deteriorating quickly. We urgently need help to be able to reach children and their families. We have access to some of the population, based on our existing work, but now desperately need the financial support to be able to scale up and deliver what we know these families need."
To donate to help children and their families please call 0207 012 6400 or make an online donation
- £1 could buy oral rehydration salts for one child
- £2 could buy a kilo of porridge to feed a child
- £20 could buy plastic sheets to give shelter to families left homeless
Save the Children has been working in Myanmar (Burma) for 13 years and is one of the biggest INGOs in the country. We have 500 national staff and 35 offices across the country.
Cyclone Nargis hit the South West corner of Myanmar in the early hours of Saturday with winds of up to 120 mph causing mass destruction. The storm travelled North Eastwards up the Irrawaddy Delta, eventually tracking into NW Thailand.
