Church swings into action as cyclone hits Myanmar

(October 25, 2010) A cyclone that struck Myanmar's western coast late last week damaged hundreds of homes and displaced thousands of residents, but the government has given no official estimate of damages or casualties. Cyclone Giri arrived from the Bay of Bengal on Friday evening with winds of up to 177 kph, lashing several areas of western Rakhine state whose coastal areas are populated by poor families living mostly in bamboo huts. Survivors in the state need food, water and shelter said Father Gabriel Aung Lin Sein, parish priest of Myaebon town, Pyay diocese. He said people are in trouble and Catholics are urgently asking for food and water. Up to 60,000 people could be in need of help, but details from the remote region are few. Transport and communications are the main challenges to getting details of the damage and emergency supplies to the victims in time, according to the parish priest of Sittwe, Father Thomas Htun Myint. He said that Caritas workers from Pyay diocese who are working in Paletwa parish brought 30 rice bags to support some 100 Catholic victims who are temporary sheltering in the church in Myaebon as their houses were completely destroyed. Some relief agencies have also gone to the cyclone-hit areas with rice and shelter. Catholic social workers moved in with relief aid as soon as cyclone Giri struck. Fr. David Ba Thein, the director of the Caritas in Pyay said they began supplying medicines to victims and will follow up with drinking water, rice and cooking oil.