08 May 2008

Bonn, Germany: With a million people in need of urgent aid, thousands of local volunteers are expected to play a vital role in relief efforts in Myanmar.  Among those already active are 20 volunteers of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme currently in the country.  They are providing expertise and organizing local volunteers to help with relief and early recovery efforts.

This group of UNV volunteers consists of 15 Myanmar nationals and five international volunteers (two Japanese nationals, one Australian, one Chinese and one Swiss).  Most of the UNV volunteers are currently attached to the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), while others are working with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Food Programme (WFP).  The UNV volunteers, themselves also affected by the cyclone, are now working with the authorities and the UN to encourage the local population to help each other through the crisis by volunteering their time and skills.

UNV, headquartered in Bonn, Germany, is urgently facilitating the deployment of a UNV volunteer disaster management specialist from India with prior experience as a UNV volunteer in Sri Lanka after the 2004 tsunami and in India after the 1999 Orissa cyclone.  One of the first things he will do is to conduct a thorough analysis of the situation, finding out what support already exists, and identifying gaps and primary requirements.  He also hopes to set up an information portal to improve communications and help coordinate essential data, as UNV volunteers did in Sri Lanka after the tsunami.

UNV Executive Coordinator Flavia Pansieri said that voluntary efforts are essential in responding to such crises.  "From our experience after other natural disasters, volunteers and local communities participating through voluntary action play an important role in helping in the recovery process," she said.  "Volunteerism is an important part of societies and is particularly apparent in times of crisis as people instinctively work together to cope and recover.  UNV supports recovery efforts by deploying UNV volunteers with the necessary expertise and has lengthy experience in working with countries to develop their disaster risk management capacities and early warning systems."

Volunteers are also essential for the efficient functioning of relief agencies such as the World Food Programme and the Red Cross, for example.  They can assist with the distribution of emergency items such as tarpaulins, mosquito nets, potable water and water purification tablets, and they convey important information to isolated communities and can keep authorities and relief workers informed of those in the greatest need.  The success of such early warning and preparedness work was evident when Cyclone Sidr struck Bangladesh in November last year.  Village and other volunteers played a major role in alerting people to the danger and evacuating them from risk areas to cyclone shelters.

In Myanmar, teams of volunteers are expected to be particularly needed in the worst affected areas along the Irrawaddy Delta, assessing damage and the needs of communities.  Category 3 Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar on 2 May, destroying homes, farms, transport infrastructure and communications networks.  With close to 23,000 people reported dead, 42,000 missing and hundreds of thousands left homeless, there is an urgent need for food, shelter and medical assistance, including measures to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

United Nations Volunteers is the United Nations focal point for promoting and harnessing volunteerism for effective development.  UNV deploys more than 7,500 UNV volunteers every year in 142 countries and actively encourages the mobilization of community volunteers in support of human development.  Some 40 percent of UNV volunteers are engaged within their own countries in areas including disaster risk reduction, peacekeeping and humanitarian support.