In last weekend, resident representatives of UN agencies, along with those of ASEAN Secretariat and foreign diplomats traveled under government arrangement to relief camps in Dedaye, Kungyangon, Pyapon, Bogalay Maubin, Mawlamyinegyun and Laputta in Yangon and Ayeyawaddy divisions.
Days after the cyclone hit Myanmar, international humanitarian aid has been pouring the country with aircraft carrying various relief materials from different countries and organizations landing at the airport one after another for Myanmar's homeless cyclone survivors.
Up to now, 27 countries or region, which sent in the aid supplies, include Thailand, China, the United States, Singapore, India, Russia, Italy, Bangladesh, Japan, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Ukraine, Greece, Pakistan, South Korea, Sweden and Australia.
International organizations, which provided Myanmar similar relief goods, comprise World Food Program (WFP), World Health Organization (WHO), International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC), UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Chinese Red Cross and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) among others.
Deadly tropical cyclone Nargis, which occurred over the Bay of Bengal, hit five divisions and states -- Ayeyawaddy, Yangon, Bago, Mon and Kayin -- on May 2 and 3, of which Ayeyawaddy and Yangon inflicted the heaviest casualties and massive infrastructural damage including religious buildings, schools, hospitals, vessels, animals, crops cultivation, forest and ration.
Hard-hit coastal towns in the southwestern Ayeyawaddy division include Haing Gyi Island, Laputta, Mawlamyinegyun, Bogalay, Phyarpon, Kyaiklat, Ngaputaw, and Dedaye, while worst-hit areas in Yangon division include Kungyangon, Thanlyin, Kyauktan, Twantay, Kawmu and the Yangon city.
According to an updated official death toll, as many as 77,738 people have been killed with 55,917 still missing, totaling 133, 655 in the disaster. The number of the injured went up to 19,359.
(Xinhua News Agency May 22, 2008)
