With Aviva's support as a founding member of the Oxfam 365 Alliance, Oxfam has pledged further support to the Myanmar (Burma) cyclone emergency response effort by increasing its commitment to just over £1 million.
With Aviva's support as a founding member of the Oxfam 365 Alliance*, Oxfam has pledged further support to the Myanmar (Burma) cyclone emergency response effort by increasing its commitment to just over £1 million.
At the same time, the Oxfam 365 Alliance is on stand-by to further assist Oxfam's emergency relief efforts in China; and continues to respond to other current emergencies around the world.
Oxfam's aid effort in the cyclone-hit areas of Myanmar is being channelled through partner organisations and has so far delivered relief supplies to approximately 129,000 people in the Ayeyarwaddy and Yangon regions. These organisations have excellent networks of national staff and volunteers who can move around the country.
It is estimated that more than a million
people have been left homeless. Here,
men assess the damages from the
cyclone-hit areas of Myanmar.
Credit: Oxfam Novib
They are distributing essential life-saving items such as rice, beans and oil, drinking water, soap, clothes, family first aid kits, blankets and plastic sheeting for emergency shelter. They are also repairing damaged wells and providing basic sanitation facilities - activities essential for preventing the spread of disease. The relief effort is now also working to restore people's livelihoods, mostly in farming, fishing and salt pan work, by helping with land clearance and supplying seeds and tools.
Oxfam aid workers are also helping earthquake survivors in nine locations in the quake-hit zones of Sichuan and Gansu in southwestern China, focusing on assisting survivors in remote rural areas. At least 60,000 people have benefited from our relief work so far.
Oxfam Hong Kong, which is leading on this response, has so far committed £796,000 to this response, providing earthquake survivors with clean water, food, medicine, clothing and blankets. It is also preparing for longer-term rehabilitation projects. Oxfam in the UK and the Oxfam 365 Alliance are ready to support this relief effort should Oxfam Hong Kong require further emergency supplies or assistance.
Oxfam, supported by the Oxfam 365 Alliance, has also been responding to a number of other emergencies:
- In Ethiopia, the failure of seasonal rains and onset of drought has led to severe food shortages effecting approximately 25 million people. Oxfam is providing water, food and a means of earning a living to some effected communities
- In Somalia, Oxfam is providing desperately needed water to over 180,000 people who have fled recent fighting in Mogadishu
- In Darfur, Sudan, Oxfam is continuing to provide water and sanitation expertise and assistance to over 500,000 people forced to live in refugee camps to escape violence
Please visit Oxfam's website for further information (this link will open a new browser window).
* Aviva's partnership with Oxfam involves a commitment from the group of between £500,000 and £1m over three years. The funding supports the charity's growing rapid response team of aid workers and helps keep the UK's biggest warehouse full of emergency supplies