Myanmar: Cyclone Nargis Revised Emergency Appeal No. MDRMM002

Relief Web

GLIDE no TC-2008-000057-MMR

This Revised Emergency Appeal seeks CHF 73,987,907 (USD 72,537,164 or EUR 45,955,222) in cash, kind or services to support the Myanmar Red Cross Society to assist 500,000 beneficiaries (100,000 households) for 36 months.

This operation will be completed by May 2011; a Final Report will be made available by August 2011 (three months after the end of the operation).

Appeal history:

- 16 May 2008: An Emergency Appeal was launched for CHF 52,857,809 (USD 50.8 million or EUR 32.7 million) to assist 100,000 households for 36 months.

- 6 May 2008: A preliminary Emergency Appeal was launched for CHF 6,290,909 (USD 5.9 million or EUR 3.86 million) to assist 30,000 households for six months.

- 5 May 2008: CHF 200,000 (USD 190,000 or EUR 123,000) was allocated from the International Federation’s Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF).

This Revised Emergency Appeal reflects the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ continued commitment towards assisting the Myanmar Red Cross Society (MRCS) in meeting the huge needs of communities affected by Cyclone Nargis. This appeal builds on the emergency appeal launched on 16 May, and the preliminary emergency appeal of 6 May. It provides an update on the progress and challenges of the relief and recovery operation (based on available information), and in particular, outlines the way forward for priority sectors.

Progress of relief and recovery operation

Achievements

Since the cyclone, MRCS staff and volunteers, with the support of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, have worked tirelessly to provide assistance to those affected by the disaster. To date, over 500,000 beneficiaries have been reached with emergency relief of water, food and relief items. About 80 per cent of the beneficiaries are in the Ayeyarwady Delta, and between 10,000 and 15,000 people are being reached every day. Up to 2 July, 55 Red Cross Red Crescent chartered relief flights, 97 regular commercial flights and two courier flights, have landed in Yangon, carrying a total of 1,570 tonnes of relief items. Transportation by sea has also begun, with about 100 tonnes of relief items received so far. It is estimated that around 10,000 MRCS volunteers are active in the relief efforts at any one time. They have been providing assistance to people throughout the affected regions. The MRCS also continues to scale up its first aid and community health efforts

Present situation

Over the last few weeks, the operation continued to face various challenges. Guiding principles on carrying out aid and assistance activities were issued for the international humanitarian community, by the Myanmar government on 10 June. This caused some confusion among the international organizations and the government authorities, as to how they should be implemented and created delays in the processing of visas and travel permission. However, this has now been largely clarified and delays experienced in receiving permission to travel to the delta appear to have eased. There is also some hope that information, analysis and assessments will be improved. As the humanitarian operation continues to be allowed to develop, there is evidence of improved operational infrastructure and it is clear that the delivery of muchneeded support to the beneficiaries is more effective and comprehensive.

It has been widely reported that the magnitude of destruction of Cyclone Nargis on Myanmar and its people is unprecedented. MRCS had no previous experience in responding to a natural disaster of these proportions. This situation understandably created significant constraints which continue to be identified and tackled, with the support of the International Federation and other partners of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement.

The unpredictable and complex nature of the operational context continues to have an undeniable impact on the response. It is requested that if particular operational constraints continue to affect the operation, partners agree that the resources pledged can be re-negotiated for use in other related programming.

Despite all of these constraints, the MRCS and its volunteers in particular, with assistance from the Movement, have been recognized for the immediate response on the ground from day one. The MRCS, in its auxiliary role to the Myanmar government, is widely recognized as one of the leaders in the national response to the disaster.

Moving forward

With the revision of this three-year plan, the operation will continue to concentrate on immediate needs until they are met. The plan also provides for the development and implementation of programmes designed to address medium to long-term needs in the following sectors: relief, shelter, health and care; water, sanitation and hygiene; food security and livelihoods; and the cross-cutting measures of disaster preparedness and risk reduction.

Lessons from this operation have highlighted the importance of and the need to support local communities with the capacity to respond to and mitigate the effects of natural disasters. In order to achieve this within an environment of poor infrastructure which includes transportation and communication difficulties, an integrated or multi-sectoral approach is imperative.

It is crucial to recovery that communities themselves take an active part in identifying, preparing for and working towards reducing the risks and vulnerabilities that they face. This is central to the success of the

operation and incorporates the way much of the affected population begins recovery and responds to the effects of floods and other natural occurrences.

How we work

All International Federation assistance seeks to adhere to the Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Disaster Relief and is committed to the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response (Sphere) in delivering assistance to the most vulnerable.

The International Federation’s activities are aligned with its Global Agenda, which sets out four broad goals to meet the Federation's mission to "improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity".

Global Agenda Goals:

- Reduce the numbers of deaths, injuries and impact from disasters.

- Reduce the number of deaths, illnesses and impact from diseases and public health emergencies.

- Increase local community, civil society and Red Cross Red Crescent capacity to address the most urgent situations of vulnerability.

- Reduce intolerance, discrimination and social exclusion and promote respect for diversity and human dignity.

Contact information

For further information specifically related to this operation please contact:

Federation zone office in Kuala Lumpur:

Jagan Chapagain, deputy head of zone office, phone: +6012 215 3765, email: jagan.chapagain@ifrc.org

Amy Gaver, head of disaster management unit, phone: +6012 220 1174, email: amy.gaver@ifrc.org

For pledges of funding:

Penny Elghady, resource mobilization and PMER coordinator, phone: +6012 230 8634, email: penny.elghady@ifrc.org

For mobilization of relief items:

Jeremy Francis, regional logistics coordinator, phone: +6012 298 9752, fax: +603 2168 8573, email: jeremy.francis@ifrc.org

For media/communications:

Jason Smith, communications manager, phone: +6012 387 0829, email: jason.smith@ifrc.org

Federation secretariat in Geneva:

Christine South, operations coordinator Asia Pacific, phone: +41 22 730 4529; mobile: +41 79 308 9824; email: christine.south@ifrc.org

FULL REPORT - pdf