Myanmar (Burma) Cyclone appeal
Myanmar is famous in the world
because of its golden pagodas and the
golden-hearted people. But the country
suffered at the hands of the dark clouds
of Cyclone Nargis that battered the
Ayeyarwady deltaic regions and the
former capital Yangon on May 2, 2008.
With winds that exceeded 180 kph the
cyclone wreaked havoc. The huge storm
surge that accompanied at some places
was over 5 metres. It swept away
everything in its path, human
settlements, livestock, people and all
infrastructure: roads, bridges,
communication and electrical facilities.
According to reports more than 100000
dead and missing and approximately
2million people were displaced. Even
Yangon International Airport was closed
down temporarily due to safety concerns
and all riverine traffic also halted. In
Yangon huge trees, some more than 100
years old, were uprooted.
But now the dark clouds have passed.
The airport is now fully operational.
Flights and trains are running on
schedule. All services like Immigration,
Customs and baggage handling are now
functional as before for both the
domestic and international travellers.
All major hotels, except for some local
guesthouses and inns, are offering full
service to their clients as before. The
city has been cleaned up and fallen
trees and all debris cleared.
Electricity has also been restored to
almost all households in the city. The
golden Shwedagon Pagoda still shines
brightly as well as all other tour sites
in and around Yangon. What is more
interesting is that the cyclone did not
effect the Myanmar beaches at Ngwe Saung,
Chaung Tha and Ngapli despite the fact
that they were near the storm's path.
Mandalay, Bagan, Inle Lake and other
tourist sites are also not effected.
Life continues as normal at these
places.
The Union of Myanmar Travel
Association (UMTA) and Myanmar Marketing
Committee (MMC) are deeply involved in
the relief work for the cyclone victims.
A joint taskforce "Tourism Volunteers
for Nargis Victims Relief " has been
formed to manage the relief efforts. As
a 1st phase, cash donation to the amount
of USD 10,000 was handed over by UMTA to
the relief fund plus essential items
like food, clothing and medicine were
distributed directly to victims together
with other items contributed by MMC. Up
to date the relief work is still
on-going with the forward operation team
heading out to the worsted effected
villages on daily basis. UMTA has also
formed 5 teams: forward operation team,
fund raising team, info and P.R team,
admin team and tourism recovery team to
effectively and speedily despatch of
necessary aid supplies to the effected
areas. The forward operation team is
stationed at Pyapon, one of the worst
effected towns, and headed by Executive
Committee members of both UMTA and MMC
on rotation.
We would like to invite all of you to
come and visit Myanmar at this time and
see for your self how the people of
Myanmar are valiantly coping with the
disaster and also invite your help to
rebuild our devastated regions with the
tourist dollars contributed by you.
Thank You |
