As Burma's devastated delta region continues its long recovery from May's devastating cyclone, the United Nations' Flash Appeal to assist in recovery remains only half funded, according to an announcement by the Tripartite Core Group (TCG).
The Tripartite Core Group, consisting of the Burmese government, ASEAN and United Nations, said on Monday that USD 242 million are still required, from an initial needs estimate of USD 482 million originally sought by the United Nations Flash Appeal.
The TCG did, however, paint an overall positive image of the relief and rehabilitation efforts to date, citing a figure of more than 33,000 metric tons of food already distributed to over 733,000 storm-affected people. The total population estimated to be affected by Nargis stands at nearly 2.5 million.
Plaudits were also reserved for the access granted relief and recovery workers to the delta area, an issue that numerous activists and independent observers have voiced a negative assessment of ever since the storm struck on May 2nd.
Yet, according to TCG, authorities have issued 1,676 visas and have approved 2,036 group travel requests.
However, despite chronicling the successes in reconstructing Burma's delta communities, members of the TCG also made it clear that the path to full recovery remains formidable and lengthy.
"People and communities have been severely affected. It will take a long time until the needs are met," UN Resident Coordinator, Bishow Parajuli, is quoted in the TCG missive as relating.
Specific obstacles on the road ahead are said to include the prospect of water scarcity due to the salinization of pond water caused by Cyclone Nargis' tidal surge and the need for sustainable shelter. Further, the TCG determined that agriculture persists in being one of the "least funded sectors."
However, only on Monday of this week, representatives associated with two of the three branches of the TCG appeared to deliver a strikingly dissimilar assessment of the status of the delta's agricultural foundation.
Twenty-four hours previously, the junta's Agriculture Minister, Major General Htay Oo, said damage to the farming sector had been almost completely repaired, an opinion supported by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, which stated that 97 percent of Burma's afflicted paddy fields have already been replanted.
Tuesday's announcement confirmed that the TCG would conduct its first review of ongoing recovery efforts in November, reporting its findings the following month. Critics of the relief effort have routinely called for enhanced transparency associated with relief and rehabilitation efforts.
In an international funding conference held in Rangoon three weeks following Nargis, Burma's ruling junta originally appealed for international aid to the tune of an incredible 11.7 billion dollars, for which it received less than a one percent commitment from donors at the conference.
The TCG was formalized at the Rangoon donor's meeting on May 25th. It was established with an aim to act as an ASEAN-fronted mechanism to assist in cementing a bond of trust and cooperation between Burma's military rulers and the international community in the wake of Nargis' devastation.
