Cyclone survivors still need support

BOGALAY, Myanmar--One year after Cyclone Nargis devastated southern Myanmar's Irrawaddy Delta, small bamboo huts with blue plastic sheet roofs provided by donors along the region's Bogalay River are still vulnerable to natural disasters. A speedboat carrying us to the small fishing village of Kadone-Kani, about 32 nautical miles south of Bogalay town, passed some small villages along the riverbank.

"Those small islands were totally inundated by storm surges during Nargis last year, and entire villages there were submerged by seawater," a local man in his 20s accompanying us said, pointing to tiny islands emerging on the river. On May 2 and 3 last year, Cyclone Nargis laid waste to Myanmar, especially the Irrawaddy Delta and some parts of Yangon State, claiming more than 140,000 lives, according to official figures.

Kodone-Kani is about two kilometers from the Andaman Sea, and most of its villagers earn their living from fishing. The Htoo Foundation, one of the private local donors, has been constructing a cyclone shelter there. "Luckily, this village wasn't seriously damaged during Nargis. But it's very close to the sea. Therefore, the government asked us to build the cyclone shelter to protect from possible future storms," U Ye Min Oo,

project director of the Htoo Foundation, explained at a construction site. The group has been building more than 18 cyclone shelters across the delta region, with most set to be completed by July, U Ye Min Oo said. Our next destination was Kyuntharyar new village, 10 minutes' drive from Kodone-Kani, where 476 villagers are living in 124 newly built wooden houses. While villagers from Kyainchaungyi are living in newly built, better-quality homes.