Christian Aid partner gives eyewitness account of delta devastation

A Christian Aid partner in Burma has described the devastation left after Cyclone Nargis swept through Burma’s Irrawaddy delta. She cannot be named for security reasons.

“Pyinsalu Island was hit by a high tide of 15 to 28 feet,” she reports. “Of 40,000 people it was estimated that only a quarter survived. Eighty per cent of Labutta township has been destroyed.

"The whole island of Hynegyi Island is flooded - with 90,000 of the 100,000 population homeless. The whole of Kaing Thaung island is flooded but most inhabitants could be saved.

"Many townships are totally destroyed with much loss of life and infrastructure. Electricity supplies are cut off, while diesel, natural gas and petrol are unavailable.

"Drinking water is the most pressing need besides food, shelter and medicine. Prices of these and building materials - timber, zinc sheet roof, canvas, plastic sheets - have sky rocketed.

"In one of our project sites, Haigyi Township in Irrawaddy, 2,000 households have been damaged and more than 9,000 people have lost all their possessions."

FIRST POSTED MAY 7, 2008