Updated Sunday 27 July 2008

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SO WHAT HAPPENED IN MYANMAR?

On May 2nd and May 3rd, 2008 Cyclone Nargis struck the country of Myanmar*, which is located in Asia, the world’s largest continent. Myanmar is near China, Thailand and India. A cyclone is a large revolving tropical storm with strong winds that can blow over 200 kilometers per hour. This cyclone damaged Myanmar’s most important city known as Rangoon (Yangon) and now many people do not have electricity, food or water. The cyclone also hurt the country’s delta region known as the “Irrawaddy Delta”. Many different ethnic groups live there and it is an important place for rice production. The cyclone caused flooding, an overflow of water, which damaged the rice crops. These crops are very important to the country because rice is one the country’s staple foods. The flooding has also damaged roads and people are unable to use transportation.

Thousands of people have died and many people are missing. Over one million people are homeless. They are in need of shelter, safe drinking water and food. They also need doctors and medicine to keep more people from dying and to stop diseases from spreading. People all over the world want to help. International agencies such as the United Nations World Food programme are working hard to deliver food and other supplies to the people of Myanmar by plane and boats.

*Sometimes you will hear people refer to Myanmar as Burma. The country has two different names because it used to be ruled by different people.