Myanmar: Christian Aid worker describes desperate conditions in earthquake aftermath

Source: Christian Aid

International development agency, Christian Aid has been hearing this morning from one of its local workers operating in Myanmar after Friday's devastating earthquake. Because of security reasons, her words are anonymous:

"The current situation on the ground is highly complicated because of the difficulties that rescue teams are facing at a community level. The roads are damaged and there's been massive devastation of buildings.

"At the moment, the most critical needs are access to safe and clean drinking water and latrines. Because so many people died due to the earthquake, we now have a lot of dead bodies, and body bags are essential as they start decomposing. Managing that is critical at this stage.

"We also need to hygiene kits and shelter assistance. We are thinking about using tarpaulin sheets and ground sheets so that they can be laid out on the roads. Because these days many people are sleeping on the roads because they don't have any houses.

"Christian Aid and our local partners are focusing on the direct assessment at community level. The hardest hit areas are the northwest, the central dry zone of Myanmar, where water scarcity is already an issue, especially for the summer from March to May.

"The earthquake has exacerbated the water scarcity, and we now have only four hours of power in Yangon and outside Yangon, no power at all. In Myanmar power supply is directly connected to the water supply."

To donate to Christian Aid and CAFOD Myanmar earthquake emergency appeals see:

Christian Aid: www.christianaid.org.uk/appeals/emergencies/myanmar-earthquake-appeal

CAFOD: https://cafod.org.uk/give/donate-to-emergencies/myanmar-earthquake-appeal