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Emergency Appeal after Cyclone Hits Myanmar
Written by Richard Sapp, International Director of Disaster Service, IRFF
Friday, May 9, 2008
The International Relief Friendship Foundation, an affiliate organization of UPF, is partnering with ABITSU (http://abitsu.org), a Burmese NGO to help the victims of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar. By working with Burmese and Thai relief workers, this joint effort guarantees that all disaster assistance will go directly to the victims in the affected areas without having to go through governmental or military forces.
Relief stations have been set up in four key regions (Rangoon, Pegu Township, Kandawglay Township, and Hlaing Tharyar Township), and ten supply trucks have been donated so far to transport all relief goods. The relief effort is based in the Thai/Burma border region of Mae Sot with all disaster supplies driven directly to the relief stations by Burmese citizens. The ground relief effort will be organized and carried out exclusively by ABITSU and its local networks, and supervised by ABITSU’s executive director, Mr. Stanley Akzeya.
To donate please go to the IRFF website at http://www.irff.org
How will your contributions be used? All financial contributions will be used to provide clean drinking water, food, clothing, and basic medical supplies as well as offer monetary support for the affected families. For the tens of thousands of people impacted by the cyclone, most have not had access to clean drinking water, let alone access to basic food staples such as rice and protein sources. Hunger and deprivation are a way of life now for each one of them.
In addition to suffering the effects of the cyclone itself, the disaster victims may also become victims of epidemics of cholera, dysentery and malaria – a danger of all such disasters. Early reports from ABITSU’s relief stations in the country indicate that cholera is already evident in some of the villages. For the youngest and oldest victims, this can be especially devastating as they are most susceptible to such diseases. 
IRFF needs your help NOW! Through your generosity, you will be able to directly impact the lives of these Burmese families. We are one of the few organizations that can provide disaster help directly to the victims because of our partnership with an on-the-ground Thai-Burmese organization. While most emergency aid will go through the main airport and governmental/military channels, your donations will not.
Your donations will be used only by local Burmese villagers, some of whom live in some of the more isolated and hard-to-reach areas. Please donate whatever you can today, so that these innocent victims of cyclone Nargis can live to see another tomorrow and have hope for the future.
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