Travelling by boat, Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) emergency response personnel have been reaching many stranded communities in the remote Pyinsalu islands in southern Myanmar’s devastated Irrawaddy Delta, providing emergency aid, such as food, medical assistance for the injured and dehydrated, and basic relief supplies in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis.

Through coordination with the United Nations and the government of Myanmar, ADRA has been requested to provide emergency aid to at least 30,000 people in the Pyinsalu Sub-Township in the southern portion of Labutta Township, a distant patchwork of islands and rivers, where thousands have died. To better aid survivors, ADRA has deployed mobile teams who are providing medical assistance to the injured and to those suffering from severe dehydration. Each team can deliver up to six metric tons of food during a trip, enough to feed at least 2,000 people for a week. Currently, ADRA is the only relief organization working in Pyinsalu, where aid can only reach the affected villages by boat.

"This is the most difficult area, certainly of Labutta, and probably of the whole crisis area," said Mark Castellino, programs director for the ADRA Network’s Cyclone Nargis emergency response, from Yangon.

ADRA’s presence in Pyinsalu began long before Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar on May 3. Terry Dinh, ADRA Myanmar’s associate country director, along with a group of assisting field staff were constructing a jetty as part of a tsunami rehabilitation project in the village of Amageley. Hours after the storm subsided, he and his staff purchased rice and transported it from the town of Labutta to survivors in Amat, Theik, and Ayar Daw, and shared their own clothing, assisted with basic clean up, and helped bury the dead. "Everything is lost," said Dinh. "Everything."

Since the disaster, many communities that lie along the coastline and in small islands in the delta region have remained isolated due to the fact that much of the boat transportation infrastructure has been destroyed. This has left thousands of people without food, water, and basic medical assistance, and vulnerable to diseases such as cholera, malaria, and dengue fever. In an effort to assist them, ADRA has provided transportation to camps in Labutta and Myaungmya, where there is improved access to food items, supplies, and medicines. In the days following the disaster, thousands of people living in low-lying areas traveled to these towns to seek refuge.

"There are many people still remaining on the islands, and people have lost their livelihoods, their shelters, all of their clothing, their cattle, and their buffaloes," said Kyaw Aung Oliver, program officer for ADRA Myanmar. "They have nothing left with them."

ADRA’s emergency response is centered in the devastated Irrawaddy Delta region, which suffered the most damage as a result of cyclonic winds that reached more than 120 mph (193 km/h). Although officially 77,738 have been reported dead and 56,917 are missing, other estimates set those numbers considerably higher. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on May 18 that up to 2.4 million people have been affected, of which 1.4 million severely.

ADRA committed at least US$265,500 in immediate emergency funding from ADRA supporting offices, which was complemented by a US$100,000 match from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). In addition, ADRA has provided more than US$130,000 in medical supplies, water purification systems to benefit 48,000 people a day, one million water purification tablets, kitchen kits for 10,000 displaced persons, and 10,000 blankets, longyi, underwear, and slippers. In partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP), ADRA has also provided at least 25 metric tons of rice to approximately 50,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in 14 camps in Labutta.

In the aftermath of the disaster, the government of Myanmar declared a state of emergency across five regions, including Yangon, Irrawaddy, Pegu, Karen and Mon, in which 24 million people live. On May 20, Myanmar began three days of mourning for thousands of cyclone victims.