THE UNITED NATIONS WORLD FOOD

Published purpose

On 2 May 2008, Category 3 cyclone Nargis made landfall in southern Burma before moving in a northeasterly direction to hit the capital of Rangoon. The official death toll as of 19 May is nearly 78,000 dead, with 56,000 people missing. The UN estimates that over 2.4 million people have been affected by the cyclone of whom more than half (1.4 million) are in severely affected areas requiring prioritized assistance. Critical needs of the affected population are shelter, water and sanitation, emergency health, and food. The project provides overall logistics augmentation and coordination to support the delivery of humanitarian assistance to over 1.5 million people affected by the cyclone. This includes establishing access through sea (landing crafts), river (small boats), land (trucks), and air (strategic air drops) and the establishment of logistic hubs. Logistic hubs provide storage, office and accommodation space for use by humanitarian actors. The project improves access to cyclone-affected populations enabling life-saving support to reach targeted individuals.