Action by Churches Together (ACT) International, an emergency relief group has appealed 9.2 million U.S. dollars on 13 July for phase II of its operation in the country, whose country name was changed from Burma to Myanmar in 1989.
On 2 and 3 May 2008 a massive cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar initially affecting the lives of approximately 24 million people in 115 townships, according to United Nations (UN) estimates and collective assessments by the international communities.
Winds of 200km per hour swept through the Irrawaddy Delta and the former capital of Yangon leaving devastation in its wake. According to BBC, the cyclone was believed to have killed 130,000 people though the figure given by the Myanmar military official was about 78,000.
Asean Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan told a news conference in July 2008 that the three parties involved in the report - the UN, Asean and the Burmese government - needed at least $1bn to deal with "a tragedy of immense proportions".
Since then many aid groups including Christian relief and development bodies like ACT International have stepped in to alleviate the suffering people fighting to reclaim their lives.
ACT International said its first appeal was issued for the crisis and early recovery phase of the ACT response. It was first issued for Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe (DKH) on 15 October 2008 to provide housing rehabilitation assistance for 850 households in 36 villages, strengthened disaster preparedness through the construction of 10 community cyclone shelters, and the promotion of knowledge exchange with partners in Bangladesh remains unchanged.
A first revision of the appeal was issued on 19 December 2008 to include Church World Service Pakistan/Afghanistan (CWS P/A) - proposing assistance in the area of agricultural livelihoods recovery and food security; and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), planning to provide improved access to potable water, assist communities in rebuilding schools and build multi purpose community hall/evaluation center facilities. These members are also focusing on reducing disaster risk and poverty related vulnerabilities through empowering the socially and economically marginalized people and developing an effective responsive capacity within the communities, it added.
The Church-based aid group said this second revision of the appeal is issued in order to include programmes by ACT members Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) and Danchurchaid (DCA), in continuation of their first appeal programmes with a focus now on agricultural livelihood recovery and rehabilitation.
Action by Churches Together (ACT) International is a global alliance of churches and related agencies working to save lives and support communities in emergencies worldwide. The alliance members are defined by their membership with 550 million strong member of World Council of Churches (WCC) and 70.2 million member of Lutheran World Federation (LWF).
ACT International said all the projects are expected to be completed by 31 November.