Myanmar recovers slowly after Cyclone Nargis

Washington, D.C.—Two months after Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar in early May, relief workers report conditions remain desperate.

Rescue24—a search, rescue and relief effort by Baptist World Aid, the relief and development arm of the Baptist World Alliance—has reported “huge unmet basic needs for the victims of the disaster.”

In a comprehensive 25-page report sent to the BWA, BWAid Rescue24 workers in Myanmar stated, “Many families are living under makeshift shelter … made of clothes, branches of trees or even under debris.”

The document added: “Most of the water sources are completely destroyed or contaminated with human and animal carcasses. There is no proper facility for storing drinking water.”

The BWAid Rescue24 report lists the most urgent needs as food, drinking water, hygiene products, psycho-social support, shelter and livelihood support.

Torrential rain 

Conditions have been made worse by the onset of the rainy season which lasts from May to November, and which brings frequent torrential rainfall. 

BWAid Rescue24 is working closely with the Myanmar Baptist Convention, who formed the Nargis Relief and Rehabilitation Central Committee. The convention is sending food, drinking water, clothes, mosquito nets and medicine daily to nearly 100,000 survivors.

“The relief material is being delivered directly to the survivors in the Irrawaddy River Delta areas by ferries, boats and cars from Rangoon,” BWAid Rescue24 aid and relief workers reported.

Vocational training 

The Myanmar Baptist Convention Women’s Department, which is also engaged in relief work, informed the BWA Women’s Department that “there are many people who are homeless, as well as jobless,” and stated plans to begin vocational training in some of the hardest hit areas.

Estimates vary widely as to the number of those who have died from the worst natural disaster to hit Myanmar, with figures ranging from 134,000 to near one million dead. Several million more are estimated to have suffered directly from the cyclone. More than 10,000 Baptists have been confirmed dead, and more than 94,000 Baptists were severely affected, losing homes and agricultural fields, and being displaced.

Even though Myanmar is largely Buddhist, Baptists have a strong presence among some of the marginalized ethnic and language groups in the country, with the Myanmar Baptist Convention having more than 1.1 million members in more than 4,500 churches.