| OUR RELIEF ACTIVITIES AND NEWS |
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Planned Relief Activities and Schedule | Our Achievements So Far | Our Clinics & mobile Medics | Special Trainings organized | Join our field trip to Pyapon township! |Villages started to be repaired! | Housing Projects | school project | cyclone shelters | agriculture |
Planned Relief Activities and Schedule
Myanmar Egress will first identify the villages that most urgently require aid and then work with village leaders and local authorities to provide and distribute food assistance, shelter materials, water purification tablets and other necessary items. The volunteer teams involved here have been trained by ActionAid, and prepared to provide the best possible assistance.
Planned Phase 1
Step 1: The first step will be to identity 100 target villages that will receive aid through the Nargis Action Group Myanmar. This will be done through consultation with other organizations that currently provide relief efforts in the same areas.
Step 2: After the target villages have been identified, Nargis Action Group Myanmar will work with the selected villages to determine which families have been most affected by the disaster. The criteria for evaluation will be as follows:
i. income/poverty level
ii. loss of primary wage-earner
iii. households/families headed by females
Step 3: Once the affected villages and targeted families have been identified, a cyclone management team will be formed for each village.
Step 4: Nargis Action Group Myanmar will distribute 1kg beans, 1 bottle of edible oil, 1 package of salt and a bag of either 50kg or 10kg rice to 1500 vulnerable and affected households.
Step 5: Nargis Action Group Myanmar will then help to build transitional shelters. Locally available materials such as bamboo, bamboo mats, beetle nut timber and materials for thatch will be provided. We estimate that 1000 households in 100 villages (20 households per village) will have access to these improved/transitional shelters.
Step 6: At the same time, in villages where water is already contaminated and people are unable to reside there any longer, Myanmar Egress will provide boats to transport the villagers to sheltered camps.
These activities have already started and are planned to continue over the next two months.
We regularly update our website to inform you about the latest news and developments. Please take a look on the other pages to learn more about the most recent developments. top
In the immediate aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, Myanmar Egress moved quickly to form Nargis Action Group. So what have we achieved so far?
We began by concentrating our efforts on humanitarian aid relief and have since progressed to building projects. Our aims are reassuringly realistic: Relief, Resettlement and Rehabilitation.
As a locally-based organisation, we were able to immediately develop an infrastructure in the disaster-struck Ayeyarwady Division. On May 13 we had set up a field office in Pyapon Town, established a warehouse and sent volunteers to the Delta from our headquarters in Yangon (Rangoon).
10 days after the Nargis storm we had 15 volunteers and a further 15 Action Aid fellows in Myanmar's Delta. We have been working in close collaboration with Action Aid, an international non-governmental fellowship programme, to send trainees and experienced volunteers to the Delta; all are Myanmar Nationals, meaning they bypass the strict government checkpoints barricading the disaster zones.
May 25: we have 54 trained volunteers (still flanked by the Action Aid fellows), as well as large number of local volunteers and monks from the villages. This work force has remained in the delta, training villagers with a view to facilitating future self-reliance. We hope the future will bring stability and prosperity to these suffering people.
June 20: meanwhile NAG trained 486 volunteers!
While building up our infrastructure in Pyapon town, we began to distribute relief aid. Details are as follows:
þ Shelter materials- we distribute plastic tarpaulins and Corrugated Galvanised Iron (CGI) sheets to help build temporary shelters.
þ Non-food items - blankets, clothing, slippers (flip flops), mosquito nets, pots and pans, candles.
þ Water purification measures - chlorinating tablets and Aluminium Sulphate pills to purify contaminated water; collapsable water tanks and drums; diesel for pumping out contaminated water.
Importantly, our volunteers work with the villagers to clean and clear water ponds (large tanks for harvesting rainwater) and wells. We provide cash for work to bring much-needed funds to these villages. As most of the water supply had been contaminated by flooding and disease, the need for renovation of water purification procedures was paramount, and shall remain so.
þ Medical Care - in Mangay Gyi village (Dedaye Township) we have a Rural Health Centre (RHC). This acts as our Ayeyarwady Delta healthcare headquarters, complementing our clinics and providing a base from which our Mobile Medical Teams can operate. From Yangon we are able to supply the required medicine and materials to our RHC.
We have one permanent nurse in each of our clinics, providing us with up-to-date information and detailed requirements, while our roaming medics travel to remote villages by boat, reporting back to the clinics and RHC.
Medical assistance consists of Tetanus vaccinations, first aid and treatment of minor injuries. The severely injured can be transported back to one of our healthcare facilities by boat. Our medical volunteers currently undertake ad hoc psychological support in the villages, while we have ‘trauma healing’ training scheduled.
As it is plain to see, our achievements so far have been an invaluable help to the relief effort in Myanmar. However, all this work takes significant funds.
We urgently need funding and donations in kind so that we may continue to build on our progress and infrastructure in the ravaged Delta. top
Nargis Action Group (NAG) is currently running clinics in the disaster-hit Pyapon region. Each of these has one permanent nurse from our organization, supplementing a number of doctors. They function to provide us with regular up-to-date feedback while performing their responsibilities.
We also have 2 mobile medical teams, consisting of 2 volunteer doctors each, navigating the Pyapon township; they use our clinics as a base. These roaming medics are sent into the villages to administer first aid, tetanus vaccinations and minor operations. If somebody is critically ill they can be swiftly brought to one of our clinics by our own powerboat (sponsored by a company) and from there, if necessary, on to a government hospital.
30.05.2008: A new First Aid clinic established in Tua Yet Pin Seik Village (Bogolay Township).
We have 7 volunteer doctors already busy working in the Pyapon district. Their activities are a huge undertaking for such a small force. top
Check the requested medicines for our clinics.
Dr Govida K.C. arrived from Nepal to help the victims of the cyclone and to assist by training our volunteers.
13. May: Our medical teams received training in order to prepare them for working in disaster areas.
14-15 May: all volunteers received first aid trainings.
Ko Bobby from EcoDev, a local NGO, provided
5 days of training for our workers. The training further prepared the volunteers for handli ng administrative tasks in the field and so they would know what to expect in a disaster area.
20. May: 5 Myanmar IT-specialist were invited from intERLab/AIT, to participate in a specific disaster management and coordination program. The Nargis Action Group is grateful for the generous support of AIT (Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok)
On Monday 26th May, our freshly-trained IT Engineers gave an excellent and informative introduction to DUMBO-SAHANA to various stakeholders. All the participating organisations are enthusiastic about utilising this database once it has been firmly established. top
Join our field trip to Pyapon township!
Dr Kyaw Yin Hlaing is a founding member of Myanmar Egress and Nargis Action Group. He lives in Hong Kong, but has spent much his time in Myanmar. So, in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, he returned to Myanmar and found the time to inspect our office in Pyapon, joining our trained volunteers and medical team. He wanted to see Nargis Action Group’s undertakings with his own eyes, where our goods are distributed and how they help the relief effort in various villages.
During his visit we had the chance to take some more eye-witness account photographs of our fieldwork activities.
To cut a long story short, this report concentrates only on our initiatives in Na Pin Sai, a village located in the Daydaye Township in Pyapon District.
In Na Pin Sai, the only building to escape complete damage from Cyclone Nargis was the monastery. Mercilessly, all other buildings were desecrated beyond recognition. During the storm approximately 100 villagers survived after fleeing to the monastery.
Once in the village, our team, accompanied by Dr. Kyaw, held various discussions with around 60 villagers. These chats were designed to determine to whom they should give the food and other supplies for distribution within the village; a monk, a chief or a teacher? The unanimous decision was that the monk should be responsible. A chat with the village chief further confirmed this decision.
We still have a Monitor to report back to Nargis Action Group. This is to provide further reassurances that our aid relief is being administered properly. top
Villagers have begun to rebuild the roof that was blown away. But without assistance the living conditions will be very poor.
In the past, roofs were made with leaves from a “Nipa-Palmtree” (in Burmese called Dhanee). These leaves were cheap and widely available in the Ayeyarwady Delta. Unfortunately, most plantations were destroyed during the storm and villagers need to find alternative roof construction materials. Plastic sheets or metal roof sheets can be used as temporary materials. However, these materials are too expensive for common village people and need to be supplied by us. Some materials for rebuilding houses, for example bamboo sticks or wooden panels, lie around beside destroyed houses so do not need be bought. Construction materials for roofs need to be purchased because roofs need to be rebuilt urgently, especially as the rainy season has started already. top
Some average bamboo huts can be repaired for only 50,000 - 150,000 Kyats!
Check our small village house:
Check our Model Village Project:
Rebuilding the education system
School in Myanmar was scheduled to start in earnest on 2nd June in Myanmar. In the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis this appeared impossible, which has been confirmed by the postponement of this date by 1 month for the disaster affected areas. For the time being, officially assigned construction companies can only concentrate on emergency repairs of damaged middle & high schools. Completely collapsed schools and primary schools cannot be built in a short time. So are lessons to take place in temporary shelters or under individual umbrellas, with students sheltering from the monsoon rains?
Of the 234 schools in the Pyapon township area, Cyclone Nargis completely destroyed 65%, while the rest are in dire need of repair. New schools must be built and existing buildings repaired as quickly as possible.
The village schools in Myanmar serve many purposes outside of education. To any new visitor, Myanmar village schools might appear to function as a community hall, kindergarten and hotel all at once; children play, villagers congregate to have meetings, while guests even sleep and eat there in the right circumstances. Unsurprisingly, these village members are desperate to have their schools back.
Nargis Action Group urgently needs funds to facilitate building and restructuring initiatives.
We offer our donors significant assurances, while tracing every donation with our coding system. Details of precisely where money is spent will be accessible on our website. Moreover, we have a field team established in disaster-hit townships, assessing the damage in villages and preparing future plans. We can also boast essential links with the Myanmar private sector and local construction companies, which we believe will bear prompt action once funds are in place.
Nargis Action Group has chosen to support the reconstruction of small village schools. top
school request from Chout Eain Tan village and Aphaung village
Sponsor our
Check our Student Package
Check our Village School Package
Check our Teacher Package
Villagers call us “the yellow team’! top
We must also begin constructing cyclone shelters like, for example, the ones already existing in Bangladesh. There is a particular need for these in coastal areas. We are currently discussing possible options with several organizations. Who will take care of this? top
Pressing concerns for agriculture and fishery in the Ayeyarwady Delta
Most storm-affected families in Myanmar have had their livelihoods crushed by Cyclone Nargis. Many have lost their homes, loved ones, and agricultural implements, and retain little hope for their future situation and financial stability. In the Ayeyarwady Division – the country’s ‘Rice Bowl’ – the pressing need for rice seed planting is reaching its climax; the late-July paddy season deadline is fast impending. With these concerns at the forefront of our thinking, Nargis Action Group is helping to recover damaged livelihoods, while planning for the future constancy of rice production in this troubled region.
Cyclone Nargis slaughtered large amounts of draught cattle, swept away and scattered seeds for the coming monsoon season, and destroyed farming machinery such as power tillers, harvesters, threshing machines, rice mills, etc. The ensuing floods caused damage to the embankments and mangroves, saturating the paddy fields with saline water. Rotting livestock, water lilies, seeds and cans of ruined fertilizers and pesticides line the landscape in a vivid depiction of despair. | |||||||||||||||||||
