MYANMAR: Funding crunch could ground cyclone helicopters
BANGKOK, 23 June 2008 (IRIN) - The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that its relief flights into Myanmar's cyclone-stricken Ayeyarwady Delta could end soon without additional money to keep its 10 helicopters in the air.
WFP operates two French-designed Puma helicopters and eight Soviet-era MI-8s, which have been carrying water purification systems, food and other relief supplies to survivors of Cyclone Nargis.
But in a 20 June appeal, the agency said it might have to cut the helicopters – which cost about US$2,000 per hour to fly – without immediate additional funding.
WFP has received only 60 percent of the estimated $50 million it needs for logistics for the first three months of the disaster's aftermath.
Of the total, about $20 million is supposed be allocated to helicopters, while other funds are spent on planes ferrying supplies from the Bangkok logistics hub in neighbouring Thailand to Yangon International Airport, and on ground transport inside Myanmar.
"The use of the helicopters remains critical to the overall humanitarian relief effort," Paul Risley, a WFP spokesman, told IRIN. "The money we have right now will keep us to the end of the month. At that point, we have to reassess what is feasible and what is possible."
The agency's financial crunch reflects the wider difficulties confronting the relief operation for survivors of Nargis, which left an estimated 133,000 people dead or missing when it struck on 2 and 3 May.
According to the UN's Financial Tracking Service, the UN and participating aid agencies have received only 65 percent of the $201 million they had sought for an emergency flash appeal for the first phase of the relief operation, amid persistent concerns among donors about international aid workers' access to the disaster-stricken area.
New assessment
A new assessment, involving the UN, Myanmar authorities and Association of South East Asian Nations, will be presented on 24 June. The UN says the assessment will form the basis of a revised humanitarian appeal for the cyclone relief effort, which will be launched in July in Geneva.
However, Risley said it could not wait that long to raise additional revenues for the helicopters, which were chartered from private companies after Myanmar authorities made clear they would not allow military helicopters from either western or regional governments to join the relief effort.
"More funding will be needed to complete the task by helicopter of providing food to all the areas that have yet to be reached," he said.
Since the helicopters were put into action on 2 June – a month after the cyclone – they have delivered more than 200 metric tonnes (MT) of supplies, including 184MT of rice, pulses, cooking oil and salt, and 32MT of non-food items, such as shelter equipment, according to WFP.
The helicopters are ferrying supplies from centres in Yangon and Pathein to three food hubs in Bogalay, Pyapon and Labutta. From there, supplies are transferred to WFP's partners, including NGOs and the Myanmar Red Cross, for distribution by boat to villages.
But the helicopters – which have the capacity to carry loads of up to 2MT either in the cargo hold or in swings underneath - have also carried relief supplies directly to 67 remote locations where no international assistance had been delivered.
"There are still villages that are so remote and so difficult to access even by water that the helicopters are providing the first-ever assistance received in these villages," Risley said. "They are flying to all these places that would take hours to get to by boat."
The choppers have also been used for the evacuation of two seriously ill children from remote areas; transporting medical teams to remote areas, and delivering heavy water purification systems.
WFP also has two large barges and smaller boats to monitor food distribution in remote areas.
However, without additional funding, Risley said, the crucial helicopters would have to be cut back. "We will not be able to maintain 10 helicopters in operation for much longer," he warned.
ak/ds/mw
Theme(s): (IRIN) Aid Policy, (IRIN) Early Warning, (IRIN) Food Security, (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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