As in all disasters, it's the older people who are last in line to get help in Myanmar. We estimate some 208,000 people of advanced years were affected by Cyclone Nargis. They have particular difficulty reaching aid distribution points or carrying relief goods - if they can get to them at all. They have special medical and nutritional needs that often go unrecognised.

It's a 30 minute drive from Yangon to the village where HelpAge Korea and HelpAge International work in collaboration with the YMCA to deliver a home care programme for older people. We wanted to see how older villagers were coping.

We set out early in the morning as we'd been told this was the best time to mingle with local people.

Although the village was not completely destroyed, some areas are still flooded and the majority of homes, made from materials such as bamboo leaves and coconut flax, had simply been swept away by the storm. Roofs and walls are torn apart; but villagers are too poor to relocate or reconstruct their houses and some are still living inside them.

Average workers here earn only $1.50 to $2.50 a day to feed their entire family. On top of rises in food prices and the cost of living, the cyclone has made already hard lives even harder.

That afternoon, we visited Yangon YMCA refugee camp, set up after the cyclone hit. Around 250 displaced people are living here together, packed in one room with no electricity, sleeping materials or proper place to sleep. Some are laid on the concrete floor with no sleeping sheets or mosquito nets, increasing the risk of malaria and dengue fever.

The only thing to appease their hunger is two meals of cooked rice and curry provided by Yangon YMCA at breakfast and dinner. This plain menu may seem very simple, but it is sustaining more than 250 lives in this camp.

No other agencies, either governmental or non-governmental, are providing immediate response and rehabilitation work in this community.

About 500 metres from the refugee camp sit two school buildings damaged by the cyclone. The storm split roofing and wall materials into pieces. Now, the buildings have been turned into relief shelters where more than 300 survivors from nearby areas are living.

Sanitation here is very poor. The only source of water is an old well behind the school, but this is unclean. Still, people are using it to cook for themselves, putting themselves at risk of water-borne diseases.

There is no waste management system in place. Rubbish floats around flooded areas, causing even more contaminated water.

We saw one 86 year-old man who was working to make bamboo trunks to repair his roofing. Some older women, despite their frail condition, are taking care of their grandchildren while the parents work in Yangon.

During the visit, a YMCA member of staff used his own money to buy food for the children and older people. He paid some money to a noodle vender and suddenly a hoard of children queued up in a chaotic line of excited faces. Both children and parents were full of smiles at the prospect of their first meal of the day.

On top of the organised aid distributions, this small gesture was able to bring some hope and cheer.

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