UN helicopters in Myanmar for cyclone aid
Waiting for relief: Myanmar cyclone survivors waiting to collect relief food from private donors in Ngapudaw in Myanmar's Ayeyawady Delta on Wednesday. Five UN-helicopters will be joining in the airlifting of supplies to the victims.Picture: AFP
Sunday, June 8, 2008
FIVE United Nations-chartered helicopters arrived yesterday in Myanmar's former capital Yangon, to boost efforts to deliver aid to victims of the cyclone that tore through the country five weeks ago, a spokesman said.
Two Puma helicopters and three Mi-8 choppers left early yesterday from Bangkok, where they had been waiting for days to fly into Myanmar, said Paul Risley, spokesman for the UN's World Food Programme.
The helicopters will help aid workers reach some of the most devastated villages in the Irrawaddy Delta, which bore the brunt of the storm that left 133,00 dead or missing.
"It's a good start," Risley said. "They will be moved hopefully in the next week into the delta."
The WFP received permission more than two weeks ago from Myanmar's junta to take 10 helicopters into the country, where more than one million people who lived through Cyclone Nargis remain without foreign relief supplies.
The first chopper arrived in Yangon on May 22, but was only able to make its first trip into the Irrawaddy Delta region on Monday. Four others are still waiting in Bangkok. Risley said they should be allowed to leave for Myanmar early next week.
The ruling military junta outraged the world by blocking foreign relief supplies leaving 2.4 million people in need of food, shelter and medicine.AFP
Two Puma helicopters and three Mi-8 choppers left early yesterday from Bangkok, where they had been waiting for days to fly into Myanmar, said Paul Risley, spokesman for the UN's World Food Programme.
The helicopters will help aid workers reach some of the most devastated villages in the Irrawaddy Delta, which bore the brunt of the storm that left 133,00 dead or missing.
"It's a good start," Risley said. "They will be moved hopefully in the next week into the delta."
The WFP received permission more than two weeks ago from Myanmar's junta to take 10 helicopters into the country, where more than one million people who lived through Cyclone Nargis remain without foreign relief supplies.
The first chopper arrived in Yangon on May 22, but was only able to make its first trip into the Irrawaddy Delta region on Monday. Four others are still waiting in Bangkok. Risley said they should be allowed to leave for Myanmar early next week.
The ruling military junta outraged the world by blocking foreign relief supplies leaving 2.4 million people in need of food, shelter and medicine.AFP
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