UN calls for more Myanmar storm aid

Funds shortfall leaves survivors of Cyclone Nargis without proper shelter 18 months on.

cyclone nargis myanmar
The UN says 178,000 families who were displaced by Cyclone Nargis still need help with shelter [File, EPA]

The pledge falls short of the $103m sought for the period until July by the UN and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations regional grouping that includes Myanmar.

The UN says 178,000 families need help with shelter and the shortfall in funds will leave about 100,000 families without a proper home.

Most of those families are living in makeshift homes covered with threadbare tarpaulins distributed in the early phase of the relief effort, according to aid workers.

Srinivasa Popuri, the leader of a shelter aid group in Myanmar, told the Reuters news agency that “the materials have gone through two monsoons and they won’t last another season”.

Cyclone Nargis swept through Myanmar’s Irrawaddy delta in May 2008, flattening villages, destroying 450,000 houses, killing 140,000 people and leaving 2.4 million destitute.

Source: News Agencies