CARE Providing Relief to Cyclone Survivors

When Cyclone Nargis pounded the southeastern coast of Myanmar on May 2-3, CARE was there to help. The U.N. estimates that the storm, which devastated the capital city of Yangon and important rice-growing areas of the Irrawaddy Delta, has claimed more than 100,000 lives and left 2.4 million people severely affected.

We were well-positioned to respond to this emergency, with more than 550 staff who have worked on projects in Myanmar for more than 14 years. To date, we have provided clean water, food and emergency supplies to more than 125,000 people around Yangon and throughout the Irrawaddy Delta. But many survivors remain in hard-to-reach areas in desperate need of help. We are using a system of small trucks, motorcycles and traditional wooden longboats to transfer supplies from Yangon into the delta across wooden bridges, mud-clogged roads and narrow waterways.

"The destruction in these areas is shocking, but you can see that people do have coping strategies," said Chris Northey, CARE's emergency team leader. "These local communities and the survivors are actually a part of the relief response. But we still need to reach more of them."

To support our efforts, CARE created the Myanmar Cyclone Response Fund with the goal of raising $10 million to carry out a four-year comprehensive response to the disaster. Contributions to the fund will help support CARE's lifesaving work with cyclone survivors in the coming weeks and months as well as longer-term efforts to rebuild lives and livelihoods in cyclone-affected communities.