EUROPEAN COMMISSION

DIRECTORATE GENERAL FOR HUMANITARIAN AID - ECHO

DG ECHO Situation Report (SitRep)

Situation report no. 10 Event Cyclone Nargis Country of operation Burma / Myanmar Period covered by report 12th May To 14th May Time of validity of report 10.00 pm (local) Field officer(s) submitting report Bernard Delpuech

Number of people affected (source) From 1 023 117 to 2 500 000 (source: MIMU)

Number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) (source)

Number of dead / missing(source) From 62 000 to 182 000 (source: MIMU)

Number of wounded (source)

MIMU: Myanmar Information Management Unit (an information centre managed by the Office of the UN RC.

1. BACKGROUND / OVERALL SITUATION

- Security situation Given the gravity of the situation including the lack of food and water, humanitarian organisations are reporting fears for security and violent behaviour in the most severely affected areas (UN). The UN Phase is still 1, unchanged. Curfew (from 22.00 to 04.00) is in place in Bogale. - Weather Heavy rain in Yangon and the Irrawaddy Divisions since 11th May evening. An alert for a storm which could sustain a new cyclone was launched today. -Yangon Clean up in the city is progressing and becoming more organized and effective.

2. AID AND ASSISTANCE REQUIRED / NEEDS ASSESSMENT

2.1. Humanitarian Aid

Health:

Hospital structures damaged to varying degrees but nevertheless working; information still limited mainly to township hospital level.

Caseload has been reported to be as high as 500 to 600 patients per day in bigger hospitals since 6/7 May. While in the initial days the caseload was mainly composed of injured, the number of injured has decreased and now Acute Respiratory Infections and diarrhoea have taken the lead.

Urgent health needs raised, next steps: - Dressings, antiseptics and other material for the continuing care of injuries, antibiotics. - Outreach activities outside major towns. For this, some of the NGOs have requested to be able to tap into UN supplies to accelerate the start-up of activities. - Disease surveillance and health early warning system need to become functional. WHO will build on the network of regional surveillance offices existing prior to the disaster. Cholera being endemic in the country, a rapid investigation system has to be set up.

Water and Sanitation Main priorities have been established to respond the most urgent needs: • Distribution of simple rain water collectors (plastic sheeting, flexible tanks, etc.) in the areas where water scarcity is the main problem. • Distribution of household water treatment and storage material, which is appropriate considering the mobility of the population. Instructions are to be given to the beneficiaries to ensure the efficiency of the disinfection. • Sanitation in the temporary settlements through the separation of excreta disposal areas from the human habitat. Defecation fields and trenches can be the first step before moving to the construction of latrines. High water tables in the area are a constraint to consider. • Production and distribution of hygiene items and IEC material. Main messages are hand washing and excreta disposal.

2.2. Civil Protection The MIC team of 4 people has arrived in Yangon with their equipment.

2 2.3. Preliminary Recommendations

3. LOCAL RESPONSE

- Response by national and local authorities of affected country

Department of Development Affairs is planning to start drilling water boreholes in the Delta.

In general hospitals have been reinforced by medical teams (half a dozen to a dozen specialist doctors or nursing staff depending on the hospital) from Yangon or other parts of the country. - Response by national authorities of other countries in the region

The GoM has accepted the assistance of neighbouring countries (India, Bangladesh, and Thailand) with 160 experts who will be deployed, though the timing is unclear. An ASEAN Emergency Response Team will be also deployed within 48 hours.

4. INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE (DG ECHO)

ECHO has launched €15 M of new humanitarian funding, comprising food aid of €5 M and a new Emergency Decision of €10 M.

- Response by major humanitarian organisations

Daily update of humanitarian organizations can be obtained from the following addresses: 1. Latest Natural Disasters, Myanmar: Tropical cyclone Nargis May 2008. http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/dbc.nsf 2. Appeal and Funding: Financial Tracking System http://ocha.unog.ch/fts2

Food • Food distribution. WFP has dispatched 426.10 MT of rice up to 12-05-08: Seven partners involved in distribution: MRCS – 51.50; MSF-H – 120,00; WV – 40.00 MT; ACF – 21.00; AMI – 40.00; GAA – 20,00; MSF-CH – 15.00; SCF – 2.00; WFP direct – 117.10. It is important to underline that the above list includes only WFP food aid program. Up to now, a comprehensive table with all the food distributed by the stakeholders involved is not available. The largest INGOs are working in food aid distribution using different sources of funds and buying rice in local markets. • Access. Information from stakeholders indicates daily different levels of constraints, mainly in dealing with local authorities. However, often INGOs are able to reach the beneficiaries and distribute food aid directly. Expatriate staff can be directly involved in actions in most of Yangon Division affected areas but not in the Delta region. Meanwhile, local authorities at Township level in the Delta Region have authorized few INGOs without a signed MoU to distribute food aid in the affected areas. • CERF/UN – Food. On 12 May WFP presented to CERF a 5 M USD proposal for food aid. The following 22 organizations have indicated their interest in implementing the program. INGOs: ACF, ADRA, AHRN, AMDA, Alliance,

3 AMI, Bridge Asia Japan, CARE, GAA, GRET, Maltesser, MSF-H, MSF-CH; PSI, OISCA, PACT, WV. Local NGOs: Metta Foundation, REAM, Karuna, KMSS. UN agencies: WFP and UNDP. • Analysis. In these days the main bottlenecks related to food aid to delivery are: 1) limited quantity of food landed by aircraft from abroad; 2) slow procedures from government to authorize organizations to carry out the distribution of available rice from local markets to the beneficiaries in the Delta. In conclusion, a limited quantity of food has been distributed to the victims in need. • Agriculture and livestock. While food aid is an urgent need for today, in three weeks' time the rice seed planting should start in the Delta region and in Yangon Division. Clean seeds (approx. 20% saline resistant) and fertilizer are extremely important to be available as soon as possible; the internal market cannot cover the needs. An average of 2-3 million MT of rice (20% of total production) in 23 townships has been lost. FAO proposed today to carry out an urgent needs assessment. Probably 10-15% of paddy fields are still in salty water. FAO and Ministry of Agriculture roughly identified at 220 M USD the total cost of the operation (seeds, fertilizer, livestock, fuel, rehabilitation of embankments, plus livestock). • Assessment. WFP will finalize this evening a food aid plan for 6 months, based on the assessment done few days ago.

Health

Action Aid, Malteser International, Merlin, MSF-NL, Population Services International have deployed in the past few days medical teams composed of Burmese staff to the most affected areas in the Irrawaddy delta to start up mobile clinics or to work in peripheral health posts. IOM, PACT announced similar plans, while the MSF-CH team (2 expatriates and Burmese nationals) deployed to Bogale has faced restrictions in its work. A measles immunization campaign has been launched by the Ministry of Health, supported by UNICEF. 32 emergency health kits (1 kit covers needs of 10,000 people for 3 months) provided by UNICEF and WHO to the hospitals in the most affected townships of the delta. 62,000 sachets to prepare oral rehydration solution have also been made available. Additional material has been provided by NGOs, mostly from their in- country stocks or by local purchase; no exact quantification has been given.

Water and sanitation

• So far, water purification chemicals have been distributed to approximately 45,000 families. • Several water treatment stations have been sent from EU countries. Their total capacity would be enough to provide treated water to around 200,000 people. The installation of these units requires the deployment of qualified international experts who do not have access to the affected areas. Agencies are considering the rapid training of national staff. • ADRA was already carrying out activities in the affected area before the cyclone and has lost part of their staff and offices. They are responding to the emergency in Laputta and Myangmya, where displaced persons are being relocated by military. They have received authorization to set up a temporary settlement and have the

4 capacity to cover the needs of 40,000 to 50,000 people including water treatment units. • UNICEF will receive 2.8 Million USD from the CERF and 1 Million USD from JICA for water and sanitation activities. Around 800,000 USD will be spent through their partners Care, PACT, Partners and Malteser. In terms of response, they have provided water purification chemicals for more than 20,000 families and water kits (soap, bucket and chlorine) for 8,000 families. They will produce 200,000 posters for hygiene promotion, to be shared with other agencies. UNICEF is focusing its WASH intervention in Laputta and Bogale. • World Vision has started the distribution of relief material in Pyapon township.

Shelter

• The truck from Thailand arrived with 4 600 plastic sheets and 182 tents.

• Distribution of available items is being organised in line with available requests from HCR’s partners (HCR implementing partners, UN agencies having done assessments at local level) that can distribute immediately and monitor themselves.

Key operational statistics: Households in need 300,000 Number of households planned to be covered by agencies (appeals, CERF etc.) 200,000 Tarpaulins distributed to date 25,000 Tarpaulins in pipeline (next two weeks) 50,000 In Irrawaddy Division an estimated 154 temporary settlements are sheltering 40,000 individuals, while in Yangon Division approximately 470 sites shelter 525,000 people. Relocations appear to be from Laputta to Myaungmya or Pathein; and from Pyapon, Dedaye and Bogale to Maubin.

Multisector

Save the Children: in Ngapudaw Township (Irrawaddy Division), distribution for 9,400 beneficiaries of 18 MT rice, bottles of water and ORS. They are planning to distribute 200 MT additional: one boat left yesterday from Pathein with 100 MT and another one will leave tomorrow with 100 MT.

UNICEF has teams with local staff and 1 international staff deployed since today in Irrawaddy Division in six locations: Laputta, Bogale, Myaungmya, Mawlamying, Pyapon, Dedaye and Than Na Pin Townships. Support is being brought in mainly through the existing health system and MRCS, plus INGOs such as WV and EMDH. On 11th May, 13,120 water guards, 57,000 ORS, 2,370 tarpaulins, 100 latrines had been supplied / constructed. (Source: UNICEF)

- Response by major donors Information is daily updated on Relief web / Financial Tracking System (FTS)

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2 flights landed on 12th May at Yangon airport: MSF–CH and WFP (NFI) as well as 3 US Air Force planes (NFI) and two more on 13th. DFID and THW planes arrived also on 13th with a team of 4 DFID (logistics) and 12 THW wat-san expats. Austrian and HCR planes arrived too.

5. ON-SITE COORDINATION MECHANISMS

UNDAC Team will be reinforced with Singaporean experts (those having been denied access could go back on behalf of ASEAN).

The food cluster has a good coordination set up: the geographical division of tasks is starting to be organised. Health and WASH clusters are still weak.

A specific Task Force has been established for mapping the IDP camps and document cases of abuse; IOM is the focal point. The UN RC cell will spread guiding principles for IDPs.

6. DELIVERY OF ASSISTANCE

- Relief entry point Road conditions for trucking from Thailand during the rainy season have to be assessed. The position of GoM towards a road corridor from Thailand is not yet known.

- Logistical constraints Heavy rains since 11th evening are increasing the difficulties of access to Irrawaddy Division. Forecasts indicate that these rains should last for 5 more days. The road Yangon to Pathein is usually closed (flooded) during rainy season. Alternatively the UN has requested access to Pathein Airport.

- Presence of international staff in the field 2 Merlin UK already in the field were joined by 3- 4 additional international staff. 3 ACF international staff who have managed to reach Bogale were requested by the authorities to stay in the centre of the town and were not allowed to go to villages and camps, allegedly for security reasons. They were told not to come back to Bogale. (Sources: Merlin and ACF)

7. ANNEX

EU contributions based on information submitted by Member States

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