BANGKOK Church agencies in Thailand and India are preparing relief efforts for Myanmar, their mutual neighbor, where a deadly tropical storm has wreaked massive damage.
Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar on May 3, bringing high winds and flooding. As of May 6, Myanmar's government put the number of deaths at 22,500 people, with 41,000 missing. The country's military government has called the situation “a calamity” and appealed for international aid.
In Thailand, Father Pibul Visitnontachai, director of the Thai bishops’ Catholic Office for Emergency Relief and Refugees, told UCA News on May 7 that the Myanmar Embassy had just given permission for a Church team to go to Myanmar.
The priest explained that his request for COERR to send representatives was turned down, but he reapplied in the name of Caritas after a Caritas Internationalis meeting in Rome on May 4 resolved to let the Thai Church lead its response to the disaster. Caritas is the local Catholic Church's social-service organization.
With the Myanmar Embassy’s permission, he continued, a two-person delegation comprising a representative of the Thai bishops and a representative of the Irish Church’s Caritas organization, Trocaire, will enter Myanmar on May 8. They will assess the situation in the affected areas and plan a coordinated response with the bishops of the affected dioceses.
According to Father Pibul, the delegation will bring with it a 1-million-baht (about US$31,450) initial donation from the Thai Church. Meanwhile, he said the Thai Church would conduct a campaign to inform Thais of the situation in Myanmar and raise relief donations.
Caritas India also plans to send at least two volunteers to Myanmar to assess the situation, according to the agency’s executive director, Father Varghese Mattamana.
However, they are facing visa problems, the priest told UCA News on May 7. Caritas India, he added, wants to send 1 million rupees (about US$25,000) as immediate relief. While he has “no definite” information about the extent of the devastation, Father Mattamana added, Caritas is trying to work with volunteers of a German aid agency that have reached the affected region.
Indian Protestant agencies say they are also prepared to offer aid.
Nirmal Singh, head of the emergency department of Church’s Auxiliary for Social Action, told UCA News they are not directly doing relief work but are in touch with the Myanmar Council of Churches. He said his Protestant agency is willing to provide required assistance through funds and manpower.
M.S. Gill, program coordinator for disaster management of the Evangelical Fellowship of India's Commission on Relief, told UCA News his agency is planning relief strategies. Gill clarified the agency does not plan to send financial aid but is willing to provide manpower and other assistance. He added that they would firm up the plan in a day or two after consulting other organizations.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson of India’s External Affairs Ministry told reporters in New Delhi on May 6 that India had sent two naval ships with relief and medical supplies to Myanmar the previous day. The ships, carrying food items, tents, blankets, clothing and medicine, sailed to Yangon from Port Blair, capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The spokesperson also announced India would send two aircraft loaded with relief and medical supplies to Yangon on May 7. He said India’s foreign minister has written to his Myanmar counterpart to express condolences and to promise India's readiness to help its devastated neighbor rebuild.
The cyclone is reported to have damaged or destroyed the homes of more than 1 million people and disrupted electricity and water supplies, as well as communication links. The area around Yangon, the country’s largest city, and the Irrawaddy River delta region, where the cyclone wiped out coastal villages and destroyed rice fields, were reportedly hit hardest.
Source: www.ucanews.com