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Aid Reaching Myanmar through Local Connections

Ten days after cyclone Nargis devastated parts of Myanmar, as tens of thousands of people still wait for assistance, global humanitarian agency Church World Service (CWS) reports that its support is reaching survivors in need.

CWS first provided humanitarian assistance in Burma in 1959 and has long-term partnerships in the country. Reformed Church World Service is working with CWS to provide assistance to this emergency.

In the face of aid shipment and distribution challenges facing international sources, CWS reports that local organizations are distributing food, water and emergency shelter supplies throughout affected areas with commodities either purchased elsewhere within Myanmar, or purchased regionally and transported through channels that are still open into the country.

Myanmar maintains open land-trade routes with Thailand and India that allow for importation of supplies, "so local markets still have commodities available," says Donna Derr, director of Church World Service's Emergency Response Program.

"And local organizations have the advantage of knowing how best to obtain and distribute those goods, to where they're needed most," she said.

CWS holds an appropriate license from the U.S. government to provide financial help to Myanmar for emergency aid purposes. The agency's Asia Pacific Regional Office in Bangkok is organizing response among faith-based, non-governmental organizations that are members of the Action by Churches Together International Alliance.

Church World Service and ACT member agencies are warning against an impending and longer term food security crisis: "If communities don't get rice seeds in the ground within the next month, there may not be rice crops for years to come," says Derr. "It's critical that we ensure that this major disaster doesn't turn into an ongoing catastrophe."

Exacerbating the problem of getting rice for food and for planting quickly into the hands of survivors, experts report that flood waters have corrupted planting fields in the affected areas of Myanmar with salt.

CWS and ACT member agencies in Bangkok said in communiques today, "Now is the time to support local organizations who are on the ground providing much needed urgent assistance. The commitments made to survivors now will help them ensure that they can rebuild their lives."

Posted 05/14/08