MYANMAR RECOVERY TO TAKE UP TO 4 YEARS!

I just saw this on IRIN's website:

YANGON, 15 January 2009 (IRIN) - Cyclone survivors in Myanmar will likely need up to four years to fully recover from the impact of Nargis, according to the UN.

“Full recovery will take three to four years, depending on the availability of funds,” Bishow Parajuli, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, told IRIN in Yangon, the former Burmese capital.

His assessment runs from May 2008 when the cyclone struck to 2011, the recovery period now being envisioned by the upcoming Post-Nargis Recovery and Preparedness Plan, a strategic framework for the international community’s recovery assistance.

More than eight months after Nargis left close to 140,000 people dead or missing when it hit the http://www.blogger.javascript:void(0)com/img/blank.gifAyeyarwady delta on 2 and 3 May, life remains a struggle for thousands of the 2.4 million people affected, many of whom lost their homes, property and livelihoods.

Despite a massive outpouring of humanitarian assistance, recovery will not be quick. Indonesia took four to five years to recover from the Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed some 167,000 people in the western province of Aceh in 2004, Parajuli explained.

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