Myanmar Cyclone

Soe was trapped under a pile of debris, crying out for his mother, when the Burmese pastor found him.

The 7-year-old boy had not seen any of his family since the evening before when they clung to each other to avoid being blown away by the fierce winds of Cyclone Nargis. As the storm raged, young Soe lost his grip on his mother's shirt and was taken by the wind to an area at the edge of his village. He had not seen any of his family members since.

Soe is one of thousands of children separated from their parents in the aftermath of the cyclone that hit Myanmar on May 2. Many of them have since learned that they lost their entire families to the killer storm. Some, like Soe, are still hopeful they will find their loved ones. Alone and afraid, they are easy prey for traffickers and others who wish to exploit them.

The pastor dug Soe out of the rubble and took him to a makeshift camp where Christians supported by Samaritan's Purse are caring for children traumatized by the storm.

“They all have an empty look in their eyes now,” the camp director said. “When you ask them about what happened, they run away from you.”

These hurting children are being given clean water, food, shelter, and compassionate care from Christian volunteers, some of whom lost their own homes and family members during the cyclone.

“It is very good for them to focus on helping these children,” the director said. “We pray that this will be healing for all of them.”

Samaritan's Purse is providing food, clean water, blankets, hygiene items, and other critically neededrelief supplies to cyclone-affected people in Myanmar through a network of church partners. Access into the hardest-hit towns and villages is still restricted, but these churches are working together in unprecedented ways to meet needs.

“Tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands that are not being reached by the government are being reached by the church,” said one of our staff members in Myanmar . “There is a substantial opportunity to work with the church and build its capacity to help.”

Samaritan's Purse has airlifted 50 tons (45 metric tons) of emergency supplies and a large team of disaster response experts to help the victims of the cyclone.

About 130,000 people either died or are missing, according to the United Nations, and more than 2 million have been rendered homeless and in desperate need of food, clean water, and shelter.

Samaritan's Purse is addressing each of these needs:

• Water: We have delivered enough water purification kits to provide over a half million gallons of drinkable water. We have received clearance to import 12 large-scale water filtration systems that could meet the daily needs of 36,000 people.
• Exposure: Over 800 rolls of plastic have been airlifted into Myanmar , enough to build emergency shelters for thousands of families. We also sent in 8,000 blankets and 16,000 pieces of clothing.
• Health: We have delivered 120 emergency health kits, 10,000 mosquito nets for the prevention of disease. We also have trained Burmese Christians to spread basic public health messages about hygiene and the risk of disease in the weeks following such a massive disaster.

Samaritan's Purse has already committed over $1 million to the relief efforts in Myanmar . Additional supplies are ready to be shipped as our team identifies specific needs and locations.

WAYS YOU CAN HELP

Pray:

• Pray for the physical and spiritual needs of the survivors, especially the children who have experienced so much death and destruction.

• Pray for God to use Samaritan's Purse and other Christians to demonstrate His love through our ministry of compassion.

• Pray for unrestricted access to the Irrawaddy Delta so we can reach more people with life-saving aid.

Give:
To support our ministry to victims of the deadly cyclone, please select " Myanmar ( Burma ) Relief " on our Donations Page.

>Click here to donate now

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