- Agency mobilizes team to assess needs and begin on-the-ground
response
- Humanitarian access remains challenging
PORTLAND, Ore., May 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The global relief and
development agency Mercy Corps is sending its top European official to
Myanmar, and hopes to have several other members of an emergency-response
team in the country in the coming week. Mervyn Lee, executive director of
Mercy Corps Europe, is expected to arrive early next week in Myanmar.
Once on the ground, Mercy Corps staff will work with partner agencies
to help assess needs and explore opportunities to ease suffering in the
aftermath of Cyclone Nargis. Mercy Corps continues to work toward a
partnership with a global humanitarian agency already on the ground in
Myanmar.
"I will be traveling to Myanmar to assess how Mercy Corps can best
contribute to recovery and rebuilding efforts," said Mervyn Lee.
"Obviously, the humanitarian needs are enormous with basics like food,
water and fuel in desperately short supply. We need to get help to people
on the ground as soon as possible."
Mercy Corps will explore ways to provide clean water and reduce disease
risks through improved sanitation. The agency will also consider
Cash-for-Work programs that pay residents to clear debris, repair
infrastructure and fill other immediate needs, similar to programs Mercy
Corps successfully ran in countries affected by the 2004 tsunami.
Myanmar's government has reported 23,000 deaths, and a U.S. official in
Myanmar's capital said Wednesday that there could be more than 100,000
deaths. United Nations officials say several hundred thousand people are
without shelter or drinking water and are at risk of disease.
Myanmar's government has accepted some outside help but humanitarian
access remains a challenge. Mercy Corps is not registered to work in
Myanmar, but has worked with organizations on the ground there in the past
year.
Cyclone Nargis swept across Myanmar on May 2 and 3, uprooting trees and
flattening buildings with 120-mile-per-hour winds and leaving huge
casualties in its wake. The powerful cyclone smashed into the low-lying
Irrawaddy delta, unleashing a storm surge as high as 12 feet, according to
Reuters. It was the biggest cyclone to hit Asia since 1991.
HOW TO HELP:
Mercy Corps
Myanmar Cyclone Fund
Dept NR
PO Box 2669
Portland, OR 97208
http://www.mercycorps.org
1-800-852-2100
Mercy Corps works amid disasters, conflicts, chronic poverty and
instability to unleash the potential of people who can win against nearly
impossible odds. Since 1979, Mercy Corps has provided $1.5 billion in
assistance to people in 106 nations. Supported by headquarters offices in
North America and Europe, the agency's unified global programs employ 3,500
staff worldwide and reach nearly 16.4 million people in more than 35
countries.
SOURCE Mercy Corps
 back to top
Related links:
http://www.mercycorps.org
CONTACT:
Joy Portella, +1-206.437.7885,
jportella@sea.mercycorps.org, or Susan Laarman, +1-503-341-3799,
slaar@imagina.com, both of Mercy Corps
|
