Sector Status

Logistics

The World Food Program (WFP) is the cluster lead, supported by the UNJLC. The Logistics cluster is 52 percent funded in the Flash Appeal, according to the OCHA Financial Tracking Service (FTS). (OCHA, June 19)

Yangon Airport is the primary hub. The template for all procedures is at http://www.logcluster.org/mm08a. Bangkok’s former international Don Muang Airport (DMK) is the main staging area for foreign relief with daily flights to Yangon. Air capacity is 190 MT a day and a 20,000 sqm temporary warehouse is available. The asset capacity out of DMK is currently one IL76 and one AN 12 aircraft. The IL76 is scheduled to be released June 25, depending on cargo projections. (LC, June 18)

The logistics cluster is operating a 4,000 square meter (sqm) inter-agency warehouse in Yangon, a fleet of some 33 trucks with four barges with four barge pushers (total capacity = 2,650 tons), and three boats (total capacity = 1,250 MT). 1 jetty identified in Yangon. Transit time to the delta by barge is between three and six days. WFP says it has a fleet of some 30 boats to help with deliveries in the delta. Only seven government helicopters are operating in the delta. WFP now has 10 helicopters. (OCHA, June 12)

The logistics services provided by the cluster are scheduled to be phased out in the second week of August. (LC, June 18)

The WFP says a critical shortage of funds for the helicopter operation is threatening further relief operations. WFP says that to date it has received 59 percent of the US$50.5 million it requires for logistics operations (WFP, June 20)

The cluster has so far dispatched 3,496 MT from May 20 to June 19. A total of 80 flights have left DMK for Yangon from May 24 to June 19. Helicopters have reached 71 locations with 255 rotations as of June 19. A second sling operation is planned for June 21 to carry a water purificator for CARE into Set San. Two additional sling operations will take place next week. (UNJLC, June 19)

UN agencies and NGOs report difficulties with requests for visas and travel authorizations carried out in accordance with new guidelines for providing assistance that were introduced on June 10, with many line ministries not provided with instructions to expedite requests. Close to 150 international UN staff have been to the affected areas as of June 15, and at least five international UN staff have now been given permission to be based for up to 3 months in the field. (OCHA, June 18)

The Post-Nargis Joint Assessment/PONJA launched on June 9. The assessment involves: a Village Tract Assessment (VTA) and a Damage and Loss Assessment (DaLA), for which field surveys in the 30 affected townships are planned between June 10-19. (OCHA, June 12)

Logistics hubs storage updates:

Mawlanyaingyun: 2,000 tons available in MAPT w/h. LC says hub remains little used.

Labutta: 7 Mobile Storage Units (MSUs) 1,840 sqm. (7 units) (240sqm for UNICEF, 560 for WFP)

Pathein: 800 sqm available.

Pyapon: 2,160 sqm operational (9 units). 240 sqm dedicated to CARE, 240 to MSF-S, 240 to WFP and 240 to WVI.

Bogalay: 1,680 sqm operational (7 units). (240 sqm dedicated to UNICEF, 240 to WFP and 240 to IOM and 240 to ACF.) (LC, June 10)

USAID/OFDA and DOD have completed 176 airlifts of relief commodities from Utapao to Yangon to date. (USAID, June 18)

Food

WFP appealed for US$69.5 million to provide a complete food basket to 750,000 people, for a total of 380 MT a day. The cluster is 45 percent funded in the Flash Appeal, according to the FTS. (OCHA, June 18)

WFP says there currently is only sufficient funding to provide one month’s ration of rice to 750,000 people. WFP says that to date, a total of 676,000 people in the delta have received food assistance from the WFP. (WFP, June 20) 15,831 MT of food assistance has been delivered to affected areas as of June 19, with 6,785 MT of food now distributed in total. (OCHA, June 19)

There is limited availability of boats in the delta for distribution of food to remote villages. Delays with the deployment of NGO partner field staff in some areas. Frequent population movements are creating challenges with the targeting of food assistance. (OCHA, June 19)

USAID says that according to a preliminary USAID/OFDA-NGO assessment conducted between June 13 and 18 in the delta, food assistance will be needed until the November harvest. (USAID, June 18)

There is growing concern that the country may also face a shortage of another staple, salt, as the delta was the center of the country’s salt industry. Salt traders say that prices of salt have hit an all-time high. (Irrawaddy, June 19)

Post-distribution monitoring and assessment is on-going in Labutta Township, where one month’s food distributions have now been completed. (OCHA, June 19)

A summary of the ‘Post-Nargis Food Security Survey’ conducted by WFP in Yangon is available on the HIC website. (OCHA, June 16)

WFP expects a pipeline break by the end of July due to a lack of resources/funding and a shortage of in-country rice for its programs. The Government has agreed to permit importation of rice. (OCHA, June 9)

The Cluster estimates the monthly food requirement at 8,933 tons. WFP plans to cover 11 townships in Irrawaddy and eight in Yangon. WFP has two sub-offices in Labutta and Bogalay.

WFP emergency food assistance rations are composed of 400g of rice, 100g of pulses, 30g of vegetable oil and 5g of iodized salt per day per person. The monthly food basket for a family of five has 60 kg of rice, 15 kg of pulses, 4.5 kg of oil and .75 kg of iodizes salt.

Shelter

UNHCR leads the shelter cluster and is supporting the IFRC, which was designated the in-country cluster lead. UNHCR is asking for US$6 million from the Flash Appeal to help 250,000 people with shelter materials within the next six weeks. The cluster is 47 percent funded in the Flash Appeal, according to the FTS. (OCHA, June 16)

Plastic sheeting and rope remain priority requirements for shelter cluster agencies. (OCHA, June 16) More than 160,000 households have been issued with some form of emergency shelter. (OCHA, June 16) The cluster has distributed more than 350,000 plastic sheets as of June 19. More than 450,000 plastic sheets are currently in the pipeline to be delivered. (OCHA, June 19)

The recent gap in the pipeline for plastic sheeting appears to be lessening, but the cluster will continue to monitor the situation. Cluster partners have been asked to update their planning figures to ensure efficient distribution of plastic sheets at the Township level. 125,000 plastic sheets provided by a US donor are expected on June 20 and will be distributed to agencies acting as consignees. Local agencies with distribution capacities are being connected with international agencies with plastic sheet supplies. (OCHA, June 19)

Household relief kits are expected to be the next priority for the emergency shelter cluster. (OCHA, June 19)

Field observations confirm high levels of self-recovery among the affected population, although some building materials are reportedly of poor quality. Local Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) and associations are successfully supporting people returning to rebuild their devastated villages. (OCHA, June 19)

MRCS, supported by the IFRC is intensifying distributions of relief, particularly monsoon shelter kits. BRC says two tarpaulins are being distributed for each family. (OCHA, June 19)

Partners for the lead agency (World Concern) are being sought. (OCHA, June 19)

In Labutta, camp population has declined from over 40,000 to around 10,000 with 3,000 in the 5 mile camp, 6,000 in the 3 mile camp and less than 1,000 in the football stadium. In Bogalay proper, all camps have been closed. In Myaung Mya, the government has been transferring people out of camps, mostly to Labutta proper. Camp population has gone down to 3,700 from 13,000 in government camps. There are some 800 people in 3 unrecognized camps. In Pathein, all camps have been closed. The 3,000 people formerly living in camps have returned to their villages, mostly in Laputta In Mawlamyinegyun proper and Pyapon proper, were around 37 camps hosting around 17,000 people, all camps have been closed. (UNICEF, June 18)

Myanmar will build cyclone shelters in 500 villages. The project is estimated to cost US$15 million and will be implemented by the cooperation of the Myanmar Engineers’ Society (MES) and the Geological Science Society. (Xinhua, June 14)

Sub-clusters have been established in Bogalay and Labutta. The government has established 12 ‘frontier' sites in Labutta. These are intended as both a transit point for people returning to their villages from camps and as base to which villager's can return for assistance. (UNICEF, June 10)

Health

The World Health Organization (WHO) leads the health cluster. Merlin is cluster co-lead. Cluster projects amount to US$4 million. WHO is calling for US$28 million to fund a six-month action plan to rebuild the health care system. At least 50 percent of health structures were damaged or destroyed. The Health cluster is 82 percent funded in the Flash Appeal. (OCHA, June 19)

Cluster sub-groups have been formed on HIV/AIDS, Early Recovery and psychosocial support. The cluster has established three operations centers in Pathein, Labutta and Bogalay.

WHO launched the Early Warning Disease Surveillance System known as the Early Warning Reporting System (EWARS). The second disease surveillance bulletin in cyclone-affected areas, based on the EWARS, shows an increase in reporting with 92% of partners participating. Improvements in the situation have been observed compared to the first report: No new suspected measles cases were reported after June 6. A total of 7691 children were vaccinated in 10 camps, of which 4174 were less than 5 years. A strategy for fly control, comprising of larviciding and surveillance, has been put in place. No new cases of Acute Jaundice (AJ) have been reported in the locations that previously recorded such cases. (WHO, June 19)

The first joint WHO/MOH mobile health team has successfully gathered information on 126 of 162 tuberculosis patients missing since the cyclone in Ngapudaw, Labutta and Bogalay. According to WHO, Myanmar is one of the 22 TB high burden countries with 133 000 registered TB patients in 2007, an estimated 10% of those co-infected with TB/HIV. (WHO, June 19)

There is close collaboration with the WASH cluster to ensure routine water quality and quantity indicators from areas reporting waterborne diseases. (OCHA, June 19)

Save the Children is training staff on providing appropriate psychological first aid to children and adults in the affected areas. (WHO, June 19)

The health cluster and the Ministry of Health are now implementing a plan of action for dengue prevention and control. WHO says that more than 1,700 volunteers will work in 22 priority areas in Yangon and the Irrawaddy delta applying larvicide. WHO will work with UNICEF and local aid groups. WHO says so far number of cases is in line with previous years. There were 781 cases of dengue in Yangon as of June 10 and 481 cases reported in the delta through the end of May. (AP, June 16) Cluster along with Myanmar government has drawn up a US$766,000 (494,272 euro) action plan for the next four months targeting 8.5 million people. (AFP, June 18)

More than 1,700 volunteers are targeting 22 priority areas in Yangon and Irrawaddy with larvicide distribution over a ten-day period. State-run media and volunteers from the Myanmar Red Cross and other organizations are conveying public health messages. (OCHA, June 19)

Mobile health clinics are attending to reproductive health needs in Kungyangon, Bogalay and Shwepyitha, and temporary outreach clinics to provide maternity facilities to assist with safer deliveries are planned.

Nutrition

The Nutrition cluster is 41 percent funded in the Flash Appeal according to the OCHA Financial Tracking Service (FTS). (OCHA, June 16)

About one-third of Myanmar’s children are malnourished, including 30,000 under five who were acutely malnourished before Nargis. Save the Children says several thousand may die in the next two weeks due to a lack of food.

Pre-crisis figures for levels of acute malnutrition and chronic malnutrition are relatively high at around 9 percent and 32 percent respectively (MICS 2003). High numbers of malnourished children have not so far been identified. (OCHA, June 16)

Estimated levels of acute malnutrition using MUAC for children 6-59 months old in worst-affected areas is 6.5% and 3.9% for moderate and severe categories respectively. The numbers of children in the ‘at risk’ category in Irrawaddy and Yangon (17.4% and 14.7% respectively) are high. MSF reports that up to 27% of under-fives are in the ‘at risk’ category according to a MUAC survey in Bogalay. (OCHA, June 16)

WFP identified 36% of households as severely food insecure and 44% as moderately food insecure in the 16 worst-affected townships in Yangon Division. Other assessments have highlighted disrupted/poor infant feeding practices (SCUK May 08). (OCHA, June 16)

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)

UNICEF leads the cluster and is appealing for US$8.2 million. The cluster is 115 percent funded (according to FTS). (OCHA, June 4)

Twenty water treatment units have been deployed in the delta region. A total of 50 units are now in-country. Treatment plants are supplying potable drinking water to nearly 250,000 people (3 liters per person per day). Disinfectant for over 6 million liters of water a day is being distributed daily, covering the needs of approximately 2 million people. (OCHA, June 18)

Rainwater collection is increasingly being introduced and represents main source of freshwater in many areas of the delta. Sea water has also contaminated pond and are being cleaned on a priority basis. (WHO, June 16)

The Cluster finalized a 4-month initial response plan based on an assumption of 1.5 million affected people. The cluster’s goal is to provide three liters of drinking water and 10 liters of bathing and general purpose water per person per day, availability of soap for everyone, and 1 community trained hygiene promoter per 2,000 people. Within the first 60 days, it hopes to have one toilet per 100 people, with an eventual goal of one per 20. (OCHA, June 4)

NGO Samaritan's Purse is training hundreds of personnel in emergency relief procedures to promote health and sanitation. Samaritan's Purse is also providing food distribution advisors and clean water experts. (OCHA, June 19)

Agriculture

The Flash Appeal includes US$10 million for agriculture. FAO was granted US$2 million from CERF for restoring food security in affected areas. The government estimates the costs of rehabilitation at US$243 million for agriculture and US$25 million for livestock. Donors have so far offered US$20 million. The cluster is currently 31 percent funded. (OCHA, June 6)

The UN says that farmers need a million gallons of diesel fuel to plant. Donors have provided farmers with small power tillers to replace the hundreds of thousands of livestock used for plowing, however fuel is expensive and in short supply. Planting season in the delta is from June to July. (BBC, June 13)

The FAO says 5,000 water buffaloes are urgently needed to help farmers in the delta, and FAO is appealing for help from the international community as well as a three-month supply of feed so farmers can be in a position to plant at least 10,000 hectares of rice at an estimated cost of US$3.56 million. The FAO said that more than 120,000 mature draught animals, as well as 66,000 pigs, 498,000 ducks, almost 7,000 goats and more than a million chickens died from the storm. The lost draught animals would have been used to plow some 120,000 hectares of paddy land. FAO said that 15 percent of the affected paddy lands (122,782 hectares) are “deep water rice production systems” and cannot be effectively plowed by mechanized tillers. FAO is also recommending the international community spend US$1.86 million to supply ducks and chickens to some 15,000 female-headed families. (IRIN, June 18)

The FAO is asking donors to support a US$32 million short-term emergency package, which includes distributing agricultural inputs such as seeds and fertilizer to around 30,500 of the poorest households in the delta. FAO has also outlined a US$51 million longer-term recovery and rehabilitation plan to help further boost productivity. FAO warns that without outside assistance, some 52,000 households would be unlikely to be able to plant their monsoon crop this year. (FAO, June 18)

USDA currently estimates 2008/09 Burma rice production at 9.4 million tons (milled basis), down 0.6 million from last month and 12 percent from last year. Harvested area is estimated at 6.4 million hectares, down 10 percent from last year. In addition, USDA estimates that approximately 1 million tons of rice (milled rice equivalent) from the 2007/08 harvest was lost or destroyed by the storm surge and subsequent flooding. (USDA, June 10)

FAO says the cyclone affected 60 percent of the 1.3 million hectares (3.2 million acres) of rice paddy in the five disaster areas, but only 16 percent was seriously damaged. Nargis destroyed about 2.3 percent of Myanmar’s annual rice production and threatens to disrupt the main November harvest in the rice-bowl delta if planting is not finished by the end of July.

FAO launched a Web site offering data on agriculture in Myanmar.

Link: http://www.fao.org/nr/myanmar/myan-home_en.htm

Protection of children and women

UNICEF and Save the Children (SC) lead the protection cluster. The cluster is currently 25 percent funded (according to FTS). (OCHA, June 6)

Child-Friendly Spaces (CFSs) are being established in villages, shelters and temporary settlements on an ongoing basis. In Yangon Division, a total of 58 CFS are functioning, and in Irrawaddy Division a total of 53 CFS have been set up. (OCHA, June 18)

The cluster has compiled a contact list for agencies operational in the field at sub-operational centers, information hubs for family tracing and child protection issues, and major town centers. (OCHA, June 19)

Child Protection agencies continue to advocate for family-based care for unaccompanied children. Agencies have assumed Cluster focal point responsibilities: Labutta (UNICEF); Bogalay & Piyapon (World Vision); Pathein & Malamyinegyung (SC). Child Focus Network is the national NGO focal point.

Education

UNICEF leads the education cluster. The education cluster is currently 0 percent funded (according to FTS). (OCHA, June 6)

Initial assessments indicate 4,106 schools damaged, most of which were primary schools. Of these, 1,255 had totally collapsed. UNICEF and partners plan to cover 2,000 schools targeting 360,000 children with teaching and learning spaces, teaching and learning materials, water and sanitation facilities for 1,000 schools and teacher training for 1,000 schools. 400 Early Childhood Development (ECD) centers will be targeted for repairs and ECD kits will target 2,000 children under 5. Ministry of education (MoE) and NGOs will cover 2,000 Non-formal Education (NFE) students aged 10-17 for learning spaces and NFE kits. (OCHA, June 18)

In Yangon (4 townships) 152 primary schools have been repaired using 14,636 roofing sheets. 46 temporary schools have been set up benefiting 7,248 children and 280 teachers. Essential learning packages have been provided for 37,045 children and 118 Schools-in-a-Box and 74 Recreation Kits have also been distributed. (OCHA, June 18)

In Irrawaddy (7 townships) 256 primary school roofs have been repaired using 29,330 roofing sheets and tarpaulin sheets. 98 tents have been provided to Labutta and Bogalay townships to provide Temporary Learning Spaces. Tarpaulins have been provided to 18 schools in Wakema township. 2,200 roofing sheets have been sent to Bogalay. Essential learning packages have been provided for 3,000 children in Labutta, 10,000 children in Bogalay, 10,000 children in Mawlamyinegyun and 10,000 children in Pyapon. 367 Schools-in-a-Box and 317 Recreation Kits have been distributed, benefiting 29,360 children. (OCHA, June 18)

While most schools reopened June 2, UNICEF and the Ministry of Education (MoE) are working to reopen others in worst affected areas by July.

Telecommunication

WFP is the lead. The Emergency Telecommunications cluster is 73% funded in the Flash Appeal.

Emergency telecommunications equipment has been held at customs for more than three weeks. Release of the equipment has been approved by the Government, but clearance is pending. Restrictions on official import of telecommunications equipment remain in place. (OCHA, June 12)

The cluster is providing communications support in Yangon, Labutta, Bogalay, Pyapon, Mawlamgyun, Pathein and Bangkok. (OCHA, June 19)

Ongoing training of local Information and Communication Technology (ICT) assistants. Additional ICT assistants are currently being recruited. Installation of an emergency telecommunications center in Yangon has started and will be completed this week. (OCHA, June 19)

Electricity is being installed for a wireless link at the logistics cluster hub in Bogalay. (OCHA, June 19)

Myanmar’s government bans the import of communications equipment, but has offered to sell CDMA SIM cards and phones at a high price to responders with a limit of 10 per agency.

Early Recovery

UNDP leads the early recovery cluster. FAO co-chairs the cluster at country level. The Flash Appeal includes US$4.8 million for Early Recovery. The Early Recovery cluster is 141 percent funded in the Flash Appeal according to the FTS. (OCHA, June 19)

The cluster’s strategy focuses on organizing monsoon planting assistance for delta farming communities and providing a long-term recovery plan to begin within six weeks.

The Early Recovery Network has produced a first draft of an Early Recovery strategy, which is currently being finalized. The Network is mainstreaming early recovery activities into strategy documents within each of the clusters. (OCHA, June 19)