Rebuilding After Cyclone Nargis

CRWRC Newsroom | April 23, 2009

On May 2, 2008 Cyclone Nargis, a category five cyclone, made landfall in the southern Ayeyarwaddy delta of Burma/Myanmar.  The devastating winds and storm surge destroyed homes, devastated livelihoods, and took the lives of more than 150,000 people.  Entire communities were washed away and families ripped apart.

CRWRC donors responded generously to the needs in Burma/Myanmar with over $750,000 in donations.  Working in partnership with World Concern, CRWRC responded to the most urgent needs of those affected, particularly in the low-lying township of Labutta.  Using private funds matched by the Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), CRWRC was able to  support people in 30 villages through a range of activities.   CRWRC also provided staff to assist  during the emergency assessments and the rehabilitation phase.  Josh Folkema, Hans Helleman, and Lorraine and Marvin VanderValk, provided managerial oversight as well as technical support to the project.

The project has helped people rebuild their lives.  Consider this story from the village of Thaung Lay, where the population is half what it was prior to the cyclone. There, Kan Kung has been working hard to re-establish his livelihood.  Before Nargis he was a fisherman with eight nets and a boat, but the storm surge washed away everything except the clothes he was wearing.  He lost all his children, his mother, his nieces, and his nephews.

CRWRC gave him a fish net.  He also borrowed a boat from a relative.  “It took me one and a half months to earn enough for a second net, which I bought second hand,” explains Kung, “but now that I have six nets I am earning as much, if not more, than I was before Nargis, because there are less fishermen now and less nets filling the waterways.” 

The devastating loss of his children and extended family have made the family more determined to support each other.  “With the money I earn I will build a house for not only me and my wife, but also my father, my brother, and his wife.  We used to live apart, but since losing all our children to Nargis, we have decided to stick together.”

While nothing can replace the devastating loss of family members, your support made it possible to restore hope to people like Kan.   Thank you for your generous support.