SINGAPORE – It has been a long and frustrating wait since I first received the news about last Friday’s devastating cyclone that hit Myanmar. Each day the death toll seems to grow exponentially. First it was several thousand, then more than 22,000 dead with 41,000 missing. Today, some are reporting a projected death toll of 100,000.

International aid groups are slowly getting visas from the government to enter the country and begin relief efforts. While we wait, however, thousands are going without food, water and medical attention.

I’m leaving Singapore tomorrow a.m. and headed to Bangkok to meet up with a medical team of doctors with our German partner, Humedica, who are on standby to get their visas. The plan is to fly into Rangoon (Yangon) tomorrow to begin treating cyclone victims at a Humedica/OBI-funded clinic.

We are told that the clinic is currently operating under severe conditions. We have employed two local doctors and three nurses who have already seen more than 600 patients. Conditions and flooding on the ground is so bad that patients cannot make their own way to the clinic, but instead have to be picked up in small boats and carried in.

Once we arrive in-country, we can assess the needs and begin to expand our relief efforts. Our partners DHL, Water Missions International, Mission Aviation Fellowship are standing by to help us bring in water purification systems as well as more doctors and medical supplies.

If you would like to get involved in OBI’s disaster relief efforts, including aid to cyclone victims in Myanmar, click here to make an online donation.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 at 3:57 pm and is filed under Asia, Kumar Periasamy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.