May 23. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Tuesday appealed to the international community to raise some 333 million dollars (around 300 million euros) to help the more than 1.6 million people who have been severely affected by cyclone ‘Mocha’ in Burma.
Ramanathan Balakrishnan, humanitarian coordinator, has expressed that “this storm has devastated coastal areas and has left thousands of people vulnerable and homeless as the monsoons arrive.”
“Now we are carrying out a race against time to ensure that people have a safe haven in all communities and prevent diseases from being transmitted due to water,” he said in a statement in which he qualified that “to move forward this work, we need the financial support of the international community.
Thus, the OCHA has requested an “urgent injection of funds for activities to support the vulnerable population in the most affected areas of states such as Rajine, Chin, Magway, Sagaing and Kachin.”
“This is a humanitarian catastrophe that has hit the poorest parts of the country, where there is high pre-existing need and we need donors to deepen large-scale aid distribution to the most vulnerable people,” Balakrishnan said.
The aid includes a package of 211 million dollars (about 195 million euros) for response work in the areas affected by the cyclone and another 122 million dollars (113 million euros) for the populations most affected by the disaster. .
OCHA estimates that 1.6 million people need this type of assistance, including many who have lost their homes and lack access to basic services, such as clean water or food.
“In the Rakhine capital, Sittwe, almost no houses have been left intact and displacement camps in the cyclone-ridden area have been devastated. Those affected face a terrible monsoon season if they don’t we managed to mobilize the necessary resources to deliver aid to save lives,” said Barakrishnan.
