Aid Group Helps to Reunite Children with their Families

By SAW YAN NAING

“We ate and drank coconuts to stay alive,” the two sisters Thida and Nilar told their father after they were reunited with him.

Fifteen-year-old Thida and Nilar, 13, finally found their father six months after Cyclone Nargis, thanks to the help of Save the Children, one of the largest international nongovernmental organizations working in Burma today.

Thida and Nilar are among more than a thousand children who have been reunited with their families with the help of the UK-based charity.

The two sisters were clinging to a bale of hay when they were swept away by the storm surge that accompanied the cyclone, which was believed to be the worst in Burma’s history.

Half a year after Cyclone Nargis hit the country’s Irrawaddy delta on May 2-3, the charity is still bringing families separated by the storm back together.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, Shazia Khan, a spokesperson for Save the Children in London, said that the organization was continuing its efforts in the delta.

“Our operations there have significantly increased. And we continue to help children to reunite with their families,” she said.

An estimated 2.4 million people were affected by the disaster, which left 140,000 dead or missing, according to official government figures.

Save the Children estimates that around 40 percent of the dead and missing were children, while many who survived were orphaned or separated from their parents.

The group also said that some 3,193 primary schools were destroyed by the storm.

According to Save the Children, the cyclone flooded about 600,000 hectares of agricultural land, killed up to 50 percent of livestock in the delta, and destroyed fishing boats, food stocks and agricultural implements.

Save the Children, which has been working in Burma for 13 years, has 500 national staff and 35 offices in the country.

Other international nongovernmental organizations involved in cyclone relief efforts include the United Nations World Food Program, Médecins Sans Frontières and World Vision.