UN aid reaches cyclone-hit delta in Burma

United Nations helicopters loaded with relief supplies have reached areas of Burma’s Irrawaddy delta that were cut off from regular aid since the devastating cyclone five weeks ago.

Four of the five aircraft that arrived over the weekend shuttled emergency supplies like rice and water purification systems to area villages, said Paul Risley, a UN World Food Programme spokesman.

More sites were expected to be reached today after flights reached seven parts of the delta, he said.

UN officials and aid groups have criticised Burma’s military regime for restricting access to the delta, saying it has prevented enough food, water and shelter from reaching desperate survivors of the May 2-3 cyclone.

Aid groups say foreign relief workers still face hindrances in reaching cyclone victims, especially outside Burma’s largest city, Rangoon.

Until now the UN had only one helicopter operating in Burma, and it flew six trips last week, Mr Risley said.

Most supplies were being delivered by boats that took hours to travel short distances in the delta’s network of waterways.

Mr Risley said helicopters reached four remote villages yesterday.

“These are areas that clearly have not received regular supplies of food or other relief assistance,” he said.

Mr Risley said four more WFP-chartered helicopters in neighbouring Thailand were expected to fly to Burma this week, bringing to 10 the UN agency’s total number of choppers in the country.

But the relief effort still faces myriad problems including a severe shortage of housing materials. Hundreds of thousands could be exposed to heavy rains as the monsoon season begins, aid agencies say.

“There’s clearly a need for tarps and other roofing material, for anything that can help them rebuild their houses,” Mr Risley said, noting that rains had left many delta villages knee-deep in mud.

The UN estimates that Cyclone Nargis affected 2.4 million people warns that more than a million of them, mostly in the delta, still need help. The cyclone killed more than 78,000 people in impoverished Burma.

Burma’s military junta has been criticised abroad for allegedly evicting cyclone survivors from refugee camps, supposedly without adequate provisions. The government has issued angry denials in state-run media.

:: A Burmese government-affiliated group has denied rumours that fish from cyclone-ravaged areas were unfit to eat after supposedly feeding on human and animal corpses.

Some people in Rangoon have been reluctant to eat fish because of rumours they were feeding on the bodies of storm victims.

One rumour said some fish were found to have fingers and pieces of jewellery in their stomachs.

“This is not true. We can guarantee that,” Toe Nandar Tin, an executive member of the Burma Fisheries Federation, told the Burma Times newspaper. “(It) is total nonsense. The freshwater fish from delta come from fish farms, not from the rivers.”

She said samples of fish had been tested to prove they were safe for consumption.