Our relief efforts in Myanmar are picking up steam. Trucks with relief items are leaving to Labutta on a weekly basis now. The government of Myanmar has already dissolved many of the camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) and built up new camps outside of the town. According to latest figures, 24,000 people are living in the town of Labutta and about 275,000 people are living in the township of Labutta, thereof about 45,000 IDPs in five camps. Malteser International is providing medical services as well as water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) for 16,000 IDPs in two of these camps and for about 16,000 residents in four wards of Labutta. The organization moved its clinics and water treatment plants with the camps in order to support the homeless in these new camps. In addition, there is a close cooperation with the Station Hospital in Labutta.

Two staff members of Malteser International also started an assessment on water and sanitation in the northern part of the so-called Middle Island (at about 20 miles from Labutta). The Island used to have a population of 90,000 inhabitants prior to the cyclone, about 50,000 living in the northern part. Numerous villages of this island were completely destroyed by the cyclone; about 15,000 people lost their life or remain missing. The Island can only be reached by boat; transport by boat is the only means of transport on the Island as well.

For more on our latest relief efforts, download our emergency relief report online.