MYANMAR: Access to cyclone-hit delta eases
BANGKOK, 29 May 2008 (IRIN) - Almost a month after cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar, a small but increasing number of international aid workers is now gaining access to the worst-affected Ayeyarwady Delta, aid agencies report.
This follows a reversal of policy, which had effectively barred foreign aid workers from travelling to the area, by the authorities last week. The delta was devastated on 2 and 3 May, leaving at least 134,000 people dead or missing.
"We have seen an improvement in terms of access to the delta for our international staff," Veronique Terasse, a spokeswoman for Medécins Sans Frontières (MSF), which has 250 staff on the ground, including more than a dozen international staff members, told IRIN in Bangkok on 29 May.
"There has been an easing," Daniel Collision, regional programme manager for Save the Children UK, agreed, reporting that two of its international staff members had been authorised for travel in the past week alone, with five applications pending.
Access remains contentious issue
But more than three weeks on, as aid workers continue to struggle to reach some 2.4 million cyclone survivors in need, the issue of access remains contentious.
"The need for more experienced staff in the delta is and remains critical," Terasse said.
On 25 May at the international donors conference in Yangon, the former Burmese capital, many donors made the issue a pre-condition for millions of dollars in cyclone assistance.
Other NGOs still report no improvement in their ability to access the area.
"Our staff is not finding access to the field any easier than before," complained one aid worker, who asked not to be identified.
Entry process remains difficult
The process remains difficult, he said, with international aid workers in Yangon wishing to travel to the field now obliged to apply to respective ministries as well as the military. The application is then sent to Myanmar's remote capital of Naypyidaw for approval - a process that can take two or three days.
Moreover, most NGO workers are obliged to travel to the field with a liaison officer, typically from the Ministry of Social Welfare, he added.
Added to this is the uncertainty of the current atmosphere and the speed at which the whole process is taking place.
"It is still too early to understand exactly what this new operational environment means," Marcus Prior, a spokesman for the UN World Food Programme, said.
"We would like to be getting access as quickly as possible for our international staff," James East, a spokesman for World Vision, added.
Yet with so many aid workers now wishing to enter the delta, coupled with the government's resolve to manage that process, it is difficult to see that speeding up soon. NGOs or organisations that already had a presence in the country appear to fare better in the application process, while those not formally recognised by Myanmar struggle.
"We do not have an MoU [memo of understanding] so we are not represented. We have zero access to the delta," Graham McKay, acting regional director for Oxfam International, which is working through international or national partners that do have access, confirmed.
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Theme(s): (IRIN) Aid Policy, (IRIN) Governance, (IRIN) Natural Disasters
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Copyright © IRIN 2008
This material comes to you via IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations or its Member States.
IRIN is a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
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