Myanmar cyclone aftermath presents international challenge in disasterand politics

GHN News Editor - Doctors Without Borders - November 10, 2010 --While the world applauds the release of human rights activist Aung San Suu Kyi from a prison in Myanmar, the concerns about the emergency problems in the country may be one reason for a positive spin on international affairs.

Doctors Without Borders provides a list of the needs of the victims of the Cyclone Giri.  presently in serious need of worldwide response.  With competing tragedies in Haiti, Kenya, and Pakistan, the country of Myanmar's plight is underscored by a voluntary team of doctors working to save people who are suffering from the terrible October storm that hit the small country and caused widespread damage to infrastructure and the lives of its people.

More than two weeks
after Cyclone Giri struck the west coast of Myanmar on October 22, the
emergency response is insufficient to meet people's needs. The cyclone
caused massive destruction in villages east and south of Sittwe in Rakhine
State.

At least 81,000 people have been made homeless
and 40,000 acres of agricultural land have been destroyed weeks before
the harvest, according to official estimates. People need food and shelter
materials.

“For cyclone survivors, this is a period
of critical vulnerability,” said Joe Belliveau, MSF operations manager
for Myanmar. “They urgently need more assistance.”

MSF teams are working in Minbya and surrounding
townships, the areas hardest hit by the cyclone. MSF estimates that many
villages are more than 50 percent destroyed, some totally flattened. Many
families are seeking refuge in monasteries, or using scraps to piece together
makeshift shelters. Most people report having little or no food, with few
prospects for obtaining any in the short term.

In the village of Kyauk Nga Nwar, all 150
households were destroyed in the cyclone. An MSF team treated a 90 year
old man who was too frail to flee the cyclone, and remained in his house
with his two sons. During the storm a tree destroyed their house, injuring
all three of them.

Among the many health risks exacerbated by
the cyclone, the area is now entering a peak season for malaria transmission.
Lack of shelter, food, and adequate medical care will further increase
the threat posed by this disease.

In cooperation with the authorities and other
actors, MSF has been distributing kits of food, shelter materials and tools,
and plans to distribute to thousands more cyclone-affected families over
the coming days and weeks. MSF has also been deploying medical teams to
provide primary healthcare to the affected population, and has donated
drugs and medical materials to local healthcare facilities. In the area
MSF has assessed, three of six rural health centers were completely destroyed.

MSF has worked in Myanmar since 1992. In
recent years it has focused on treating HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria,
and responding to natural disasters like the devastating Cyclone Nargis
in 2008. Across Myanmar, MSF runs 17 HIV clinics that together provide
anti-retroviral treatment to more than 16,000 people, as well as nine health

centers and more than 30 malaria field posts.