Three weeks after Cyclone Nargis devastated Myanmar, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) is delivering timely relief aid, including clean water, food, and medical assistance to thousands of survivors of Cyclone Nargis in southern Myanmar.

Recent heavy tropical rains, boggy and flooded roads, and the isolation of so many communities have made distribution of relief assistance challenging. However, ADRA aid continues to flow into affected areas in the Labutta Township of the Irrawaddy Delta, where at least 150,000 people are receiving assistance in the towns of Labutta, Myaungmya, and the Pyinsalu islands.

“Delivering aid to the affected families is our overriding core purpose,” said Raymond Chevalier, Cyclone Nargis Emergency Response Coordinator for the ADRA network, from Yangon.

Since Cyclone Nargis struck the coast of southern Myanmar late on May 2, ADRA emergency personnel have been responding to the needs of survivors, as many communities still lack water, food, and access to medical assistance, 20 days after the disaster. “Our teams spend 16 to 18 hours a day delivering rice bags to camps, traveling by boat to reach the remote islands along the coast of Pyinsalu, and assisting in setting up basic camps for the internally displaced people,” said Mark Castellino, programs director for the ADRA network emergency response in Myanmar.

To meet the urgent needs of survivors, ADRA is expanding the delivery of aid. A grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) is funding the provision of water filtration units that will enable increased access to clean drinking water to 120,000 people in Labutta and Myaungmya, where the limited fresh water has been contaminated by storm debris, human and animal remains, and waste. Many internally displaced persons (IDPs) are living in monasteries, schools, and in dozens of makeshift camps. ADRA is also partnering with USAID/OFDA to provide safe and adequate emergency shelter tools and materials (rope, hand saws, roofing nails, shovels, hoes, machetes, tin snips, nails, tie wire, claw hammers, and woven sacks) to 8,375 people, or 1,675 households, throughout the Labutta Township.

In recent days, ADRA has reached additional isolated villages in the Pyinsalu Sub-Township, distributing 50-110 lb. bags of rice to 500 people in the Hwa Sar village and 3,000 high-energy biscuits in a different area. Additionally, ADRA has provided 310 bags of rice, or 15 metric tons, which amount to approximately 39,000 meals, in partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP).

In Labutta, ADRA also provided 70 cooking sets and 70 hygiene kits, in addition to 10,000 sets that were already distributed last week, and 17 rolls of tarpaulin, suitable for covering buildings where IDPs are staying. Farther north in Myaungmya, two ADRA trucks filled with emergency supplies, including household water bladders, hygiene kits, temporary shelter materials, and two Zodiac boats arrived from Yangon. The boats will assist the relief operations in the Pyinsalu area.

Having also received well cleaning and desalination units from the Swiss Government on Monday, May 20, ADRA has completed training of its field staff to operate the units, and is currently assessing the field in preparation for project implementation. ADRA personnel are operating these water purification units in the region in partnership with Muslim Aid.

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 at least 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.

The highest numbers of displaced persons living in temporary shelters are in the townships of Labutta (34,000), Bogale (15,500), Myaungmya (12,000), and Pyapon (9,700) in the Ayeyarwady Division, and Kungyangon (20,000) in the Yangon Division, according to independent estimates. The humanitarian situation is worsened by continual rainfall throughout the delta region.

The ADRA network committed an immediate $265,500 in emergency response activities, which was complemented by a $100,000 match from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). In addition, ADRA has provided more than $130,000 in donated medical supplies, water purification systems to benefit 40,000 people a day, one million water purification tablets, kitchen kits for 10,000 displaced persons, and 10,000 blankets, longyi, underwear, and slippers.

In 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 Tuesday, May 20, Myanmar began three days of mourning for thousands of cyclone victims.

The most urgently needed items include food, water purification supplies, plastic sheeting, cooking sets, bedding, clothing, raincoats, mosquito nets, fuel, and emergency health kits.