Disaster management

I had the chance today to attend a speech by ASEAN's (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Secretary General, Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, right after he had met with the Bank's President Bob Zoellick. He told us they discussed ways to increase the cooperation between the two organizations, but the most interesting and pressing aspect of it all is that they talked about specific ways in which the Bank will be helping out the victims of Cyclone Nargis through ASEAN. ASEAN had announced on May 13 that it was setting up a "Coalition of Mercy" for the Myanmar relief effort, and today Zoellick offered to have Bank experts assess the devastation and plan for the country's recovery. The key point here is that ASEAN is the organization with best access to Myanmar right now --it has already secured entry visas for its emergency team--, so this collaboration between the Bank and ASEAN can start being effective really quickly, which is what the people of Myanmar need.

World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick said the institution was ready to help the victims of China’s earthquake as he expressed his condolences following the disaster that hit the central province of Sichuan on May 12, killing about 15,000 people.

“The World Bank stands ready to support the Chinese Government in any way it may find useful in the recovery and reconstruction process,” Mr. Zoellick wrote in a May 12 letter to Chinese Premier Mr. Wen Jiabao. “Our thoughts are with the Chinese people at this tragic and sorrowful time,” he wrote.

Mr. Zoellick said the Bank Group would draw on its considerable expertise in catastrophe management and reconstruction.

World Bank representatives on Tuesday held detailed discussions on possible technical support for the recovery effort with representatives of the Chinese Ministry of Finance and the National Reform and Development Commission.

The U.N. announced it was suspending relief supplies to Myanmar on Friday after the Government seized the food and aid material that had been flown into the country. Find reports from the New York Times, BBC News, and updates at ReliefWeb.

Update as of 1:00 p.m.: the World Food Programme, a U.S. agency, says it will send in two more relief planes tomorrow, as planned. Again, I encourage you to keep updated by checking a news aggregator like Google News or other online media.

As advanced in an earlier post, here's a short list to the webpages for online donations of international NGOs that have a large presence in the country and so are likely to be most effective under the difficult circumstances:

• International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent - Donations
• Save the Children - Donations
• CARE - Donations
• Malteser International (This is a German medical NGO which was able to send in supplies within a couple of days after the cyclone). - Website with info on donations
• Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières - Donations

The New York Times reports that some aid has begun flowing into Myanmar, but it looks like the mobilization for major relief operations is still underway and not clearly defined. However, you can keep track of what's going on in this regard by visiting the site that ReliefWeb has set up for the disaster caused by cyclone Nargis in Myanmar.

ReliefWeb, administered by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), is the main gateway to information --including news, documents and maps-- on humanitarian emergencies and disasters. It's targeted to the international humanitarian community that works on delivering emergency assistance, so you can hardly find a better site for up-to-date, reliable information on all aspects of this emergency.

Incidentally, there's also a site on the effects of the floods caused by Nargis in neighboring Thailand.

As for individual donations, it still seems too early to know how or where to contribute. I'll try to post this information later as it becomes available.

As the official estimate of fatal victims of cyclone Nargis raises to 22,000 --not counting the more than 40,000 missing--, World Bank President Bob Zoellick has just issued a statement:

"Our sympathy goes out to the thousands of victims of this terrible tragedy in Myanmar. I urge the government in Myanmar to allow relief agencies to reach those in need."

(Sadly, it's a vain attempt to try to keep this blog updated on the estimated death toll, and these postings are bound to become outdated fairly quickly in that aspect. Please check any major online news site or a news aggregator like Google News to keep track).