Raging Storms and Heavy Rains hinder Myanmar aid effort
Pastor Dale Morgan
Raging Storms and Heavy Rains hinder Myanmar aid effort*
* Story Highlights
* Raging Storms and Heavy Rains hinder Myanmar cyclone relief
efforts, aid agency spokesman says
* Military junta has agreed to let aid agencies use helicopters to
reach remote areas
* More than 77,000 dead, 55,000 missing, 600,000 requiring relocation
(CNN) -- Raging Storms and Heavy Rains are hindering relief efforts in
Myanmar as humanitarian agencies attempt to get aid into the
cyclone-ravaged country, a UNICEF spokesman said on Monday.
Aid agencies say hundreds of thousands of survivors are without shelter
as the monsoon season begins.
More than 77,000 people have already died in the secretive southeast
Asian since Cyclone Nargis devastated the Irrawaddy delta region in
early May, according to United Nations estimates.
But at least 55,000 more remain missing and as many as 600,000 require
relocating after losing their homes. Aid agencies have been frustrated
in their rescue efforts by restrictions placed on their movements inside
the country by Myanmar's military junta government.
UNICEF's Michael Bociurkiw told CNN that the government had finally
granted permission for the organization to use helicopters to deliver
aid to those in need but said making deliveries meant battling strong
winds and rain.
"Monsoon season has come to Myanmar," Bociurkiw said. "It is very very
difficult to deliver aid even in very large helicopters. But we are
getting out there and putting up with the elements."
Prior to the government's decision to allow aid agency helicopters to be
used, getting relief supplies to the worst-hit areas had involved
delivering them by truck along dirt tracks and transporting them by boat.
Bociurkiw said his organization, along with others, had been able to
reach people living in the southern Irrawaddy delta region, but said the
need for aid was still intense.
"I think everybody would agree that there still is a substantial amount
of people that have not received aid," he said.
"But with the government allowing these helicopters in, it has given us
a totally new avenue into the worst affected areas."