Emergency medical packs which were air-freighted by World Emergency Relief (WER) to victims of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar (Burma) have been successfully cleared through customs and are right now being distributed to emergency mobile health clinics in the devastated Irawaddy delta area.
Each Doctor Emergency Medical Pack (DEMP) contains basic antibiotic, antiseptic and general medical supplies specifically selected for emergency situations and provides approximately 1500 treatments. The packs are specifically prepared so that doctors and nurses can quickly have basic supplies available while they make assessments for additional specific medical requirements, including pharmaceuticals, medicines and water purification supplies.
Up to 134,000 people are missing or feared dead following the massive cyclone which struck Myanmar on 2nd and 3rd May 2008. Millions of people are now homeless and in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.
WER air-freighted the emergency medical packs, which are valued at £80,000 and were donated to WER by International Health Partners (IHP), to Myanmar last Friday (16th May 2008). The packs were received by local aid agency ADRA Burma within 24 hours of arriving in the country.
WER is working in close partnership with ADRA Burma to provide essential medical and pharmaceutical supplies for emergency mobile clinics in the Labutta region of the Irawaddy delta, an area severely devastated by the cyclone.
Reports to WER from ADRA Burma indicate that more than fifty percent of hospitals and medical facilities in Labutta have been entirely destroyed by the cyclone and medical supplies are rapidly running out of stock.
WER is now preparing to air-freight over £1 million worth of further medical and pharmaceutical supplies within the next 3 weeks. These supplies have been donated to WER by IHP and major pharmaceutical companies.
WER is continuing to appeal to the UK public to donate to our Myanmar (Burma) Cyclone Appeal to help send further essential emergency aid to Myanmar. We are working in close partnership with locally established agencies who have many years' experience of working within Myanmar and we are therefore able to secure the approval of the Burmese authorities in carrying out humanitarian aid within the country.
Alex Haxton, WER UK Director of Operations, commented, "It is certainly encouraging that this first delivery has successfully cleared through local customs, but we are increasingly concerned that the ongoing negative headlines regarding the Burmese authorities are having a detrimental impact on the UK public's willingness to donate money to emergency appeals for Myanmar. When we compare the response of the public at the times of the Asia Tsunami in 2004 or the Pakistan earthquake in 2005, we can see that the level of response to the cyclone in Myanmar is significantly lower. Yet the needs of the Burmese people are as great and the situation within the country is every bit as desperate as that of major disasters we have seen before."
If you would like to make a donation to WER's Myanmar (Burma) Cyclone Appeal, please call the WER team today on 0844 249 2129 or donate online via www.wer-uk.org. Thank you.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
