Surin seeks more UN relief aid for Burma
Written by changthai11 on Monday, September 15th, 2008
CYCLONE NARGIS
Surin seeks more UN relief aid for Burma
ANUCHA CHAROENPO
KUNGYANGON, BURMA : Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) need to convince the United Nations, which will hold its annual meeting this month, to provide more humanitarian aid for the two million victims of Cyclone Nargis in Burma, Asean secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan said yesterday.
Mr Surin, who chairs the grouping’s Humanitarian Task Force, is coordinating with Asean, the UN and the Burmese government. He said he will ask Asean leaders at the UN meeting in New York to raise the issue in the General Assembly, as the cyclone victims are struggling to survive.
”We have to help them survive,” Mr Surin said at Seik Gyi village in Burma.
He said financial aid of US$1 billion (34.5 billion baht) earlier promised by the UN and international humanitarian organisations over the next three years would most likely not be enough because of the magnitude of the destruction in the Irrawaddy delta, including the village he recently visited.
Seik Gyi in the Irrawaddy delta is a three-hour drive from Rangoon. The disaster there claimed 67 lives, leaving 17 children orphaned. It also destroyed fishing boats and nets, houses, a primary school, a temple and the betel plantations in the 1,300 villagers there.
The Thai community and embassy in Burma have pledged financial support of $5,000 and other necessities to help the cyclone victims at Seik Gyi.
”We want to help bring back their lives,” Thai ambassador to Burma Bansarn Bunnag said.
Four months ago Asean, the UN and the Burmese government chose the village as a model to carry out community-based projects, which will end next July.
The three parties involved in the project will spend $170,000 getting the lives of the villagers back to normal. They will get new fishing boats and nets, the 30 community wells will be cleaned and they will be given saplings of the betel leaf plant.
”Three months ago we didn’t see anyone smiling or anyone with hope in their eyes. Now you can see their excitement, confidence and hope for their future. I think it’s a big difference,” Mr Surin said.
A similar project will be set up in two more villages deeper in the delta in the next two months.
Win Myint, 40, a Seik Gyi villager, said her life is now better and thanked the international community for helping her and the other villagers get back to normal.
”I had never seen this kind of storm before. It was horrible,” she recalled.
The school in the village has recently reopened after renovations.
”All the children at the school here are happy when they see international volunteers come to help rebuild their school and village,” said Zin Thu Soe, a teacher.
