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 06 July 2008 03:29 BST

Eyewitness account of Burma cyclone describes destruction

Wednesday, 07 May 2008 16:17
Eyewitness describes the utter devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis
An eyewitness has described the utter devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis in Burma.

A partner of the charity Christian Aid, who cannot be named for security reasons but works in the Irrawaddy Delta, described the carnage which has left at least 22,000 people dead.

"Pyinsalu Island in the Irrawaddy Delta was hit by a high tide of 15 to 28 feet," she confirmed.

"Of the 40,000 people it was estimated that only a quarter survived. Eight per cent of Labutta township has been destroyed," she said.

"The whole island of Hynegyi Island is flooded – with 90,000 of the 100,000 population homeless.

"Many townships are totally destroyed with much loss of life and infrastructure."

Earlier today international aid started to arrive in Burma, with the country's ruling generals allowing United Nations aid planes to land.

A Chinese plane carrying 60 tonnes of aid also landed in Rangoon, the Xinhua state media reported.

The Christian Aid worker claimed that many of the basic commodities are currently unavailable with electricity supplies being cut off.

"Drinking water is the most pressing need besides food, shelter and medicine, prices of these and building materials – timber, zinc sheet roof, canvas, plastic sheets – have sky rocketed," she said.

"In one of our project sites, Haigyi Township in Irrawaddy, 2,000 households have been damaged and more than 9,000 people have lost all their possessions."End of story


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