Crisis in the Relief Camps: Mass Exodus Sets Stage for Public Health Crisis

Hundreds of Thousands of Homeless Forced to Migrate North for Aid

MYANMAR, May 11, 2008 - The lives of thousands of cyclone survivors are at extreme risk as people scramble out of the shattered Delta region to find food and shelter.

Displaced people are living in appalling conditions in make-shift shelters and camps where overcrowding and unsanitary conditions are prevalent. These are the findings of a World Vision assessment team that visited 26 shelters across Myaung Mya.

As thousands of villagers leave the hardest-hit areas of the Irrawaddy Delta, they embark on a journey where there is almost no food or shelter and water is contaminated by salt, human remains or animal carcases.

In Myaung Mya, an area some 50km north of the devastated town of Labutta, World Vision Myanmar staff says some 30,000 people are seeking food, water and medical attention. Children - many of them orphans - are suffering from fever, diarrhoea and respiratory infections.

Samson Jeyakumar, a World Vision programme manager, said, "In this situation, the most vulnerable people are children under five because they have the highest mortality rates in emergency situations and suffer the effects most quickly."

World Vision has been supplying clean water to survivors in the Irrawaddy area. The agency has also started chlorinating wells, providing water tanks and disinfecting camp sites with bleaching powder. Meanwhile, in Yangon, more than 78,000 people are receiving clean water, and diesel fuel is being distributed to operate water pumps.

World Vision has also distributed sterile dressings, anti-bacterial medicines, mosquito nets and disinfectants, but additional resources are needed. Much of this equipment is available and could be within the country in hours from World Vision's global warehouses in Dubai and Frankfurt.

For interviews with a World Vision aid worker, please contact

Pamela Sitko Mobile: +66 (0) 843-600345 Email: pamela_sitko@wvi.org

World Vision Myanmar has close to 600 staff and has been working in the country for many years, primarily in the area of community development. It also runs projects to country trafficking and help children living in vulnerable circumstances.

World Vision is a Christian relief, development and advocacy organisation dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice.