Cyclone Nargis

Loca­tion:                 Irrawaddy Delta region of south­ern Myanmar

Key dates:               May 2008

Local part­ners:        Myan­mar in-country team of The Man­dalay Projects

Project back­ground:  In May 2008, the Irrawaddy Delta region of Myan­mar was dev­as­tated by the impact of Cyclone Nar­gis.  Inter­na­tional aid agen­cies put the toll of dead and miss­ing at up to 150,000.  The orphan­age we had been focus­ing on in Twante town­ship was badly dam­aged and some of the chil­dren were killed or badly injured. In the imme­di­ate after­math of the dis­as­ter, the larger aid agen­cies strug­gled to deploy their usual relief resources, due to logis­ti­cal chal­lenges posed by restric­tions on entry to Myan­mar.  Thanks to our expe­ri­ence work­ing on strate­gic projects in Myan­mar, and the net­work of local con­tacts we had built up, we were in a posi­tion to deploy emer­gency relief fund­ing and other on-the-ground sup­port almost imme­di­ately.   

Main activ­i­ties:   Our imme­di­ate pri­or­ity was to get help to our local vol­un­teers, so that they could then assist us with the task of ship­ping fresh water, food, med­ical sup­plies and tar­pau­lins to the orphan­ages and local com­mu­ni­ties with which we had been work­ing on strate­gic projects.  Once we were sat­is­fied that we had done what we could for the chil­dren and their sup­port­ers, we extended the reach of our aid work to more remote vil­lages, hir­ing boats to trans­port rice and other basic mate­ri­als to the stricken com­mu­ni­ties.  

Sta­tus of project:  Com­pleted.  As a direct result of our emer­gency aid, the Min­galar Parahita orphan­age at Twante was put back on its feet, and we have been able once again to refo­cus on the strate­gic project work we have under­taken there. We also pro­vided essen­tial food and med­i­cine to remote com­mu­ni­ties, giv­ing them hope. Our aid was the first to arrive in these communities.

Pic­tures below show the dev­as­ta­tion caused by Cyclone Nar­gis at the Min­galar Parahita orphan­age, and the aid which The Man­dalay Projects was able to deliver within days of the dis­as­ter, both at the orphan­age and in the broader com­mu­nity in the Irrawaddy Delta region of Myanmar.