ID :
13318
Tue, 07/22/2008 - 11:56
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/13318
The shortlink copeid
Myanmar needs $1 bil. in cyclone recovery aid over 3 years: report+
SINGAPORE, July 22 Kyodo - Just over a total of $1 billion is estimated to be needed over the next three years to help people in Myanmar affected by a massive cyclone in May recover from the devastating natural disaster, a report said Monday.
The ''Post-Nargis Joint Assessment'' report prepared by a team of international experts shows the recovery needs include the most urgent priorities of significant food, agriculture, housing, basic services and support to communities for restoring their livelihoods and rebuilding assets.
''Around 90 percent of all recovery costs estimated -- all those except transport and communications -- are for activities delivered direct to the local community level,'' the report says.
The assessment report, created as mandated by the ASEAN-U.N. International Pledging Conference held in Yangon on May 25, was submitted Monday to foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations who met Monday in Singapore.
The report was made by a team of 250 officials and volunteers from the Myanmar government, ASEAN and the United Nations, supported by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and both local and international nongovernmental organizations.
From June 11-20, the so-called Tripartite Core Group collected information from 380 villages in the Irrawaddy Delta and Yangon in southern Myanmar that were affected by Cyclone Nargis to assess the needs of survivors of the disaster.
''We know that natural disasters know no boundaries, and that the best we can do is to take measures to reduce vulnerability to them before they strike, to be prepared to respond when they do strike, and to make sure that the response is as good and as well coordinated as it can be after they have struck,'' U.N.
Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes told a press conference.
According to the report, the Cyclone Nargis disaster was the most devastating one in Myanmar's known history with the assessment of damage and losses confirming a similar scale of impact to that of the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster of 2004, particularly at the household and community level.
It killed 84,537 people and left 53,836 others missing, while about 450,000 homes were destroyed and 350,000 others damaged. Seventy-five percent of health facilities in the affected areas were destroyed or severely damaged, as well as 4,000 schools.
It also flooded over 600,000 hectares of agricultural land, killed up to 50 percent of draught animals, destroyed fishing boats and swept away food stocks and agricultural implements.
''The road to recovery will be long and more PONJA activities will be needed to help the affected communities get back on their feet again,'' ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan said.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The ''Post-Nargis Joint Assessment'' report prepared by a team of international experts shows the recovery needs include the most urgent priorities of significant food, agriculture, housing, basic services and support to communities for restoring their livelihoods and rebuilding assets.
''Around 90 percent of all recovery costs estimated -- all those except transport and communications -- are for activities delivered direct to the local community level,'' the report says.
The assessment report, created as mandated by the ASEAN-U.N. International Pledging Conference held in Yangon on May 25, was submitted Monday to foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations who met Monday in Singapore.
The report was made by a team of 250 officials and volunteers from the Myanmar government, ASEAN and the United Nations, supported by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and both local and international nongovernmental organizations.
From June 11-20, the so-called Tripartite Core Group collected information from 380 villages in the Irrawaddy Delta and Yangon in southern Myanmar that were affected by Cyclone Nargis to assess the needs of survivors of the disaster.
''We know that natural disasters know no boundaries, and that the best we can do is to take measures to reduce vulnerability to them before they strike, to be prepared to respond when they do strike, and to make sure that the response is as good and as well coordinated as it can be after they have struck,'' U.N.
Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes told a press conference.
According to the report, the Cyclone Nargis disaster was the most devastating one in Myanmar's known history with the assessment of damage and losses confirming a similar scale of impact to that of the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster of 2004, particularly at the household and community level.
It killed 84,537 people and left 53,836 others missing, while about 450,000 homes were destroyed and 350,000 others damaged. Seventy-five percent of health facilities in the affected areas were destroyed or severely damaged, as well as 4,000 schools.
It also flooded over 600,000 hectares of agricultural land, killed up to 50 percent of draught animals, destroyed fishing boats and swept away food stocks and agricultural implements.
''The road to recovery will be long and more PONJA activities will be needed to help the affected communities get back on their feet again,'' ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan said.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
