Church joins Myanmar cyclone relief effort

Cyclone Giri, which ripped through western Myanmar on Friday, has left at least 29 people dead and more than 4,000 homeless, but aid workers fear the death toll could rise to more than 100.




Survivors in the Rakhine state, need food, water and shelter says the parish priest of Myaebon, one of the worst hit areas.

“The people from there are in trouble and the Catholics are asking for food and water. Emergency relief is needed urgently,” Father Gabriel Aung Lin Sein, parish priest of Myaebon town, Pyay diocese, said today in a phone call to Sister Rita Phyo from the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions congregation in Yangon.

“While we were talking, the phone line cut out,” Sister Phyo told ucanews.com.

Up to 60,000 people could be in need of help, but details from the remote region are few.

Transport and communications are the main challenges to getting details of the damage and emergency supplies to the victims in time, according to Father Thomas Htun Myint, parish priest of Sittwe.

“Social workers from Karuna Pyay who are working in Paletwa parish brought 30 rice bags to support round about 100 Catholic victims who are temporary sheltering in the church in Myaebon as their houses were completely destroyed,” Father Htun Myint said.

Some NGOs have also gone to the cyclone-hit areas, bringing rice and shelter. Catholic social workers moved in with relief aid as soon as cyclone Giri struck.

Karuna Pyay began supplying medicines to victims and will follow up with drinking water, rice and cooking oil, the director of the social services arm, Father David Ba Thein, told ucanews.com by phone from Pyay city.

The category 2 storm hit Arakan state on the evening of Oct 22.

“Damage to property is huge. Nearly all the houses made of bamboo and thatch were completely destroyed,” one local businessman told an Australian news network.

An unidentified government official told Reuters news agency that at least one person had been killed and that there are fears for residents on the islands of Kyunthaya and Ngapathon off the Myanmar coast.

“We’ve heard a number of villagers there were completely covered with water,” he was quoted as saying.

Daw Rose Mary, Coordinator of Karuna Myanmar Social Services (KMSS) told ucanews.com that the organization was ready to support Pyay Karuna with emergency relief.

“Local branches of the Myanmar Red Cross Society say the most urgent needs are for food, water and shelter,” the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in a statement.

The storm, with winds of 160kph, reportedly caused tidal waves of seven to eight metres above the normal water level, impacting islands and Kyaukpyu, a city of 185,000 on the Rakhine coastline, where 75 percent of houses have been partly damaged, according to the IFRC.

Other affected townships include Ann, Minbya, Munaung, Myebon, Pauktaw and Sittwe in Rakhine State, the relief agency said.

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