By Xinhua
Yangon : Relief work for cyclone victims are urgently underway in Myanmar’s cyclone-hit regions with the government, non-governmental organizations and individuals being engaged in striving for the reconstruction of infrastructures destroyed in a recent deadly cyclone storm and rendering assistance to the victims.
Led by Prime Minister General Thein Sein, four infantry divisions have rushed to the scene by seven helicopters, 60 fiber boats and 10 ships to carry out emergency relief operation.
In the city of Yangon, which was devastated along with other areas in the southwestern coastal regions, work for clearing blocked roads is in progress with water supply initially resumed in some six townships in downtown areas. Each household can tap the water sources at their respective inlet points of their houses. However, water still cannot be pumped up to tanks erected a top buildings as electricity supply keeps failing to operate water pumps.
Part of the telephone link is starting to resume.
All domestic and international flights, rail services and water transport are also gradually returning to normal.
Domestic organizations are donating relief supplies such as food, medicines and cash to the victims, while international organizations have also started to send in their relief goods to the disaster-torn regions including 500,000 U.S. dollars’ relief materials airlifted from China Wednesday as part of China’s one million dollars’ emergency relief aid to cyclone-devastated Myanmar. The 60-ton relief supplies, laden by Boeing 747-400 aircraft, include compressed food, tents and blankets.
Earlier on Tuesday afternoon, a military aircraft of the Royal Thai Armed Forces, carrying nine tons of food and medicine, arrived in Yangon and the relief supplies have been air-lifted to such cyclone-hit areas as Mawlamyinegyun, Laputta, Phyapon and Bogalay in Ayeyawaddy division. Another Thai aircraft continued tobring such relief materials to Yangon Wednesday afternoon for the second time.
Other committed international relief aid comprises that of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) (50,000 U.S. dollars), the World Vision (300,000 dollars), World Food Program (WFP) (5 million dollars), one-plane-load of relief from Laos, two-plane-load and two-warship-load from India, 100,000 dollars worth of items from the Thai government, 260,000 dollars’ from the Japanese government and some materials from the Bangladesh Embassy.
Relief items of pressing need include tent, blanket, medicine, water purifier, plastics, instant food, tarpaulin, rice, biscuit, warm cloth, mosquito net and construction material.
According to an official updated death toll released up to Tuesday noon, a total of 22,464 people have been killed in two divisions of Yangon and Ayeyawaddy in a violent cyclone storm Nargis that swept Myanmar’s five divisions and states on last Friday and Saturday.
Of the victims, 21,793 are in Ayeyawaddy division, while 671 are in Yangon division.
A total of 41,054 were missing and fearing dead. They include 40,695 in Ayeyawaddy division and 359 in Yangon division. 670 were injured in the Yangon division alone.
The economic loss caused by the destructive cyclone is unestimatable.
The deadly tropical cyclone Nargis, which occurred over the Bayof Bengal, severely hit such coastal towns in southwestern Ayeyawaddy division as Haing Gyi Island, Pathein, Myaungmya, Laputta, Mawlamyinegyun, Kyaiklat, Phyarpon and Bogalay as well as the Yangon city, almost totally devastating these areas.
The cyclonic storm torn away roofs of government, public and residential buildings, brought down uncountable big and small trees, forced down some walls, blew down many lamp-posts, telephone lines and billboards, and destroyed some wharves.
67 powered vessels were sunk and some sampans destroyed by Nargis.
A day after the cyclone storm Nargis hit the country, Myanmar declared five divisions and states — Yangon, Bago, Ayeyawaddy, Kayin and Mon, as natural-disaster-hit regions.
However, Bago, Mon and Kayin as well as some five townships of Yangon division and 19 townships of Ayeyawaddy division, claimed to have basically returned to normal, have now been dropped from the list of natural-disaster-hit regions since Tuesday.
A majority of 40 townships in Yangon division and 7 townships in Ayeyawaddy division will remain as the natural-disaster-hit regions.
The government has formed a national central committee for prevention of natural disaster, allotting 5 billion Kyats (4.5 million U.S. dollars) to be spent for relief and resettlement undertakings.
It was the first time that Myanmar was stricken by such a deadly cyclone storm Nargis in a century, suffering the heaviest ever casualties and damage.
Meanwhile, claiming that part of the cyclone-hit regions are returning to normal, Myanmar announced holding its constitutional referendum as scheduled on May 10 across the country except 40 townships in Yangon division and 7 townships in Ayeyawaddy division remaining designated as disaster-hit regions. Referendum for these areas have been put off to May 24.