Rangoon/Bonn, 16.05.2008. Welthungerhilfe continues to extend its relief programme in the Irrawaddy Delta. Over the course of the next few days, 40,000 more people will finally be provided with urgently needed food. 8,000 families in the area around the town of Bogale will be receiving items such as rice, lentil, oil and salt as well as plastic buckets and tarpaulin in order to collect rainwater. Soap and sterilization tablets will contain the spread of any epidemics. According to information supplied by the UN, 150,000 people are in desperate need for help in Bogale itself after having taken refuge in emergency shelters and lost everything.

Furthermore, Welthungerhilfe's local staff have described how desperate victims of the disaster have set off in small boats, leaving their villages to search for food in the city. It is therefore imperative that relief reaches places accessible by water only.

The first trucks carrying approximately 20 tonnes of food and other relief supplies arrived yesterday in the town of Bogale. Heavy monsoon rainfall restricted road access and rendered bridges impassable. More than 20 local members of staff are currently coordinating the distribution of relief supplies in Bogale. Today, almost 2,000 people will be receiving food for the next two weeks. Trucks are already on their way back to Rangoon to reload and return with fresh supplies. A total of 10,000 people will be provided for in Bogale.

Welthungerhilfe will extend relief over the next few weeks. To do so, donations are urgently needed. "We are grateful for every contribution we've received," says Welthungerhilfe's Secretary General, Hans Joachim Preuss, but goes on to point out that, "the level of donations is far from being in proportion with the scale of the disaster."

On request, an interview can be arranged with our staff member in Rangoon, Ralph Dickerhof.

Welthungerhilfe has been active in Burma since 2002. The prime focus of the work is food security and water supplies in the Northeast of the country and suburbs of Rangoon. Around fifty Welthungerhilfe employees are currently working in the affected area.

Welthungerhilfe is a member of the alliance www.entwicklung-hilft.de, an association of German aid organisations for acute emergency aid and long-term development cooperation.