As heavy rains threaten hundreds of thousands of people made homeless by cyclone Nargis in Burma, one Christian Aid partner is setting up relief camps and helping remote communities cope with even more climate chaos.
An estimated two million people across Burma�s south-west region are feared to be at risk of disease and hunger. The rains forecast for the coming days will worsen the devastation already caused by the cyclone.
Setting up relief camps
Christian Aid�s local partner - which wishes to remain anonymous for security reasons - is distributing rice, oil, salt, clothing, mats, baby blankets, mosquito nets, medicines and rehydration solutions to 68,000 people in 58 temporary relief camps across the Irrawaddy delta.
It is also handing out radios to community leaders in some of the most vulnerable areas in order to improve early warning communications ahead of the rains.
Food provisions and safe shelter are also being established for 12,000 of the most vulnerable families.
Harvesting rainwater
With clean water in drastically short supply across region, Christian Aid�s local partner has begun erecting plastic sheeting to harvest rainwater to provide alternative supplies. A representative from a member of the Action by Churches Together network reported on the way the survivors are using every resource available to them.
�The wells are polluted by seawater so for the time being people survive by drinking the juice from coconuts.
�In the three villages we visited, people are surviving on seed grain which was meant to be planted for the next crops. In several places wet grains of rice spread out on the ground to dry can also be seen. They mix the seed grain with water and eat it.
�Some have begun rebuilding their shacks with bamboo, rushes and anything else they can find. Everybody is helping each other and sharing the food they have.�
Children orphaned
As its rescue teams bring hundreds more survivors to the relief camps every day, the partner reports that among them are thousands of orphaned children.
Setting up kindergartens with skilled carers and teachers in the camps is its top priority.
Meanwhile, medical teams are out in the worst hit areas treating the injured and sick.
The scale of our partners� response is remarkable given the difficulties facing them in terms of sourcing supplies and gaining access to devastated areas.
Yet, there are hundreds of thousands more people in desperate need of food, water and shelter.
To avert even more catastrophe in the region, the response needs to be on a much greater scale which can only happen if the Burmese regime allows full access into the country for international aid agencies.