KEY POINTS:
Aid agencies say despite the reluctance of the Myanmar regime to allow foreign aid workers into the cyclone-ravaged country, help is getting through to the survivors.
Save the Children, the TEAR Fund and Children on the Edge NZ all have staff in the country getting aid to where it is needed, but they all need more help.
Official figures put the death toll in Myanmar at 23,000, with around one million homeless. However, unofficial United Nations estimates claim the numbers are far greater, with 216,000 dead, around 220,000 missing and two million homeless.
Save the Children believes 40 per cent of those dead and missing are believed to be children and the organisation is working against the clock to reach surviving children and their families left destitute in the wake of Cyclone Nargis.
The organisation's local staff of 500, who normally work out of 35 local offices across Myanmar, have been mobilised to help, and have already managed to provide aid to around 80,000 people, more than a quarter of them children.
The TEAR Fund is working with its partners on the ground in Myanmar and the little-known Children on the Edge NZ is managing to get aid across the border using networks of locals.
"It is now a race against time and our priority has to be those who are left," Debbie Jack, programmes manager of Save the Children New Zealand, said today.
"In emergencies such as this, children are hit hardest, and they are always one of our first priorities.
"There will be large numbers of children separated, orphaned and unaccompanied, at greater risk of exploitation, abuse and psychological distress. Expert education and protection staff are being assigned to focus on these issues," Ms Jack said.
Spokeswoman Shelly Mansfield told NZPA Children on the Edge NZ had been working along the Thailand-Myanmar border for three years, providing aid for victims of the Myanmar military regime.
The organisation, an offshoot of Children on the Edge (International), which was founded in 1990 to alleviate suffering in Romania's orphanages, has workers who cross the Thai-Myanmar border frequently but who are unable to move deeper into the country.
Ms Mansfield said the organisation used networks of locals who hiked further into the country carrying aid in backpacks.
"They will go in and get to the people that way."
All funds donated to Children on the Edge for cyclone victims would reach the Emergency Assistance Team (EAT) - a coalition of trusted grassroots Burmese organisations based on the Thai border - who would use their secure channels for getting aid and Burmese personnel into the worst-hit areas.
The EAT was working directly with the affected communities and funds were urgently needed, Ms Mansfield said.
The EAT estimated that more than NZ$400,000 was required for their work in just the crucial first three weeks of the disaster relief effort.
Meanwhile TEAR Fund has just dispatched an initial $50,000 to help its partner working on the ground in Myanmar, deliver much needed aid.
"While the situation regarding restrictions on external workers and aid flows is totally unacceptable, charitable funding given to TEAR Fund is getting through and being used wisely and effectively in this very difficult and almost unprecedented situation," said TEAR Fund NZ executive director Stephen Tollestrup.
The funds sent by TEAR Fund were desperately needed and were being used to buy food and essential relief supplies in Myanmar as well as to employ additional in-country support and specialist staff, he said.
But despite international efforts conditions in Myanmar are continuing to deteriorate.
Sanitation is likely to worsen as people are forced to shelter in large numbers, and water supplies remain limited. There are reports of people moving to less affected areas as they seek basic necessities.
"Obviously these factors will impact greatly on children and we need to scale up our response to avoid this turning into a major health emergency," Ms Jack said.
Save the Children had been operating in Myanmar for 13 years and had been able to respond immediately to the disaster using funds already set aside that allowed it to begin distributing aid without delay.
"But more funds are urgently needed to scale up our emergency response," Ms Jack said.
Last week Save the Children launched a global $12 million appeal for the victims of Cyclone Nargis. People who wish to donate can:
* Call Save the Children New Zealand's donation line: 0800 167 168;
* Donate via the website: www.savethechildren.org.nz;
* Visit any one of Save the Children's shops across the country (visit the website to find the one closest to you);
* Send a cheque, made out to Save the Children, to Freepost PO Box 6584, Marion Square, Wellington. Mark the envelope Myanmar.
Donations to Children on the Edge NZ can be made at www.childrenontheedge.org.nz or any branch of The Body Shop or Levi stores nationwide.
To donate the TEAR Fund for Myanmar: 0800 800 777 or www.tearfund.org.nz.
- NZPA
