Rangoon/Bonn. Welthungerhilfe is donating € 500,000 to help the victims of cyclone "Nargis" in Myanmar/Burma. Around 50,000 people will initially be supplied with food and temporary roofs for their destroyed houses. "We have today begun with the distribution of relief supplies in our project areas", reports Angela Schwarz, the Regional Co-ordinator of Welthungerhilfe in Myanmar.

Since Welthungerhilfe has already been active in Myanmar for years, it proved possible to obtain relief supplies locally and start distributing them immediately. In Htan Tabin, an outer district of Rangoon and project area of Welthungerhilfe, people are being supplied with rice and woven palm-leaf matting to serve as temporary roofing. Aid will also be concentrated on a slum area near Rangoon. "It is the poorest people who are most severely affected. Their shanty housing had no chance of withstanding the cyclone. These are exactly the people who cannot afford the hugely increased prices of basic foodstuffs and fresh water, and who urgently need our aid", says Angela Schwarz.

Lack of food has fatal consequences particularly for the people in the storm-ravaged and inaccessible region of the Irrawaddy delta. The area is populated by small subsistence farmers. Their harvest has been largely destroyed by the cyclone, and the people are reliant on food aid. Welthungerhilfe is working together with two local partner organisations in the river delta. Together, they will begin the distribution of relief supplies as soon as possible. This however requires the approval of the government. "We hope that the previous obstacles will be removed for the sake of the victims", emphasises Angela Schwarz.

Welthungerhilfe has been working in Myanmar since 2002. Their work is focused on securing food and water supplies in the north-east of the country and the areas surrounding Rangoon. Around 50 Welthungerhilfe personnel are currently at work in the affected area.

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