Last week, the Department of Foreign Affairs announced that the government of Norway would increase the amount of emergency aid it would send to Burma to assist with victims of Cyclone Nargis.
The total amount of aid the government will send in is NOK 50 million. Initially, the government pledged just NOK 10 million immediately after hearing reports of the devastation in Burma, but new reports have caused Norway to increase that amount.
Norway will be distributing its donation through Norwegian, Burmese and international organisations, as well as through the United Nations and their relief efforts.
“We fear that the catastrophe is increasing due to sickness and lack of food,” said Minister of International Development, Erik Solheim.
Tropical Cyclone Nargis struck the coast of Burma on 2nd May, resulting in catastrophic destruction. The cyclone is now the deadliest natural disaster recorded in the history of the country, resulting in more deaths than the 2004 tsunami. The actual death toll is difficult to determine as reports vary from some 30,000 deaths to numbers well over 100,000. Tens of thousands of people are still missing and photographs from aerial surveillance show rice fields destroyed and littered with the bodies of the dead.
Relief has been slow to reach the people most affected in the country for political reasons. Burma is a military dictatorship fiercely opposed by U.S. President George W. Bush. The United States has pledged a total of USD 16 million in assistance to the country and has urged neighbouring countries to help assist.