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FROM THE FIELD

World Emergency Relief Aids Cyclone Victims
15 May 2008 18:31:00 GMT
 Source: World Emergency Relief (WER) - USA
Andrea MacLeod

Website: Website: http://www.worldemergencyrelief.org

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•  Children

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MYANMAR (BURMA) / THAILAND - World Emergency Relief and Rescue Task Force (RTF)'s joint rescue team is currently providing aid to cyclone victims on the Myanmar/Thailand border, where 1,000 local Thai were left homeless and thousands of Burmese cross daily for supplies to distribute in Myanmar disaster zones. The joint team is conducting a needs assessment of cyclone-affected areas, and offering victims first-aid, food, medicine, water purification tablets and other supplies.

In addition, the rescue team is coordinating emergency aid distribution with local organizations inside Burma and a medical clinic on the Myanmar/Thailand border that serves Burmese victims. The WER/RTF team is waiting anxiously for permission to enter the country themselves and begin relief work in Myanmar. "I've never in my life seen a country refuse aid and block relief agencies after a natural disaster!" exclaims Jordan MacCollam, WER's program coordinator. "I'm thankful WER's team is at least on the ground on the Thai side of the border, helping cyclone victims there."

WER representative Andrea MacLeod is very frustrated with the current situation. "We are ready to send immediate shipments of relief supplies into Burma that would help thousands of desperate people, but are forced to wait because of Myanmar government hold-ups. It's heartbreaking to know that every day we are forced to wait, thousands die because of lack of aid." But the Myanmar government has begun to relax restrictions on international aid, and MacLeod stays hopeful that World Emergency Relief will be allowed to deliver the containers of medical supplies and other emergency aid it has prepared. The joint rescue team will help coordinate and distribute incoming WER aid supplies in Myanmar as soon as the Burmese government gives their approval.

However, WER is concerned with more than just hunger, disease and exposure. "Unfortunately, disasters of this nature provide a large opportunity for child sexual abuse," said Joel MacCollam, WER's CEO. "There are evil people who will take advantage of innocent victims' tragedies, as we found after the 2004 tsunami." Sex trafficking has long been a problem in this area, and tens of thousands of Burmese women and children have been taken to other countries and forced into sexual slavery for decades. With thousands of children now orphans, countless children are at-risk for sexual abuse and trafficking. To help prevent this, WER intends to assist local Thai and Burmese organizations that work with abused, at-risk and displaced children.

World Emergency Relief is a global family of seven charities sharing a common vision and core values. WER works with local organizations to combat poverty, hunger, and abuse, in addition to providing disaster relief. WER's vision is to give children all over the world a living chance by addressing their practical, emotional, spiritual and economic needs, as well as the needs of their families and communities.

At this time World Emergency Relief is not accepting volunteers due to security reasons. For more information or to make a donation, please call toll free1-888-484-4543 or visit WER's website, www.worldemergencyrelief.org.


[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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