Over the past two days IOM Yangon has taken delivery of cargo from
two United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) C-130 aircraft carrying
some 8,500 hygiene kits donated by the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID) for victims of Cyclone Nargis.

A third USAAF flight which will leave Thailand's Utapao military
airbase tomorrow will bring in 224 30 x 7 metre rolls of plastic
sheet – the equivalent of 2,240 tarpaulins.

As yesterday's flight arrived, IOM trucks left Yangon for Bogale
in the Irrawaddy delta carrying 2,400 mosquito nets donated by the
Swiss Agency for Cooperation and Development and 2,400 jerry cans
and 564 hygiene kits previously donated by USAID.

The relief items will be distributed from IOM's Bogale
operational hub by eight IOM mobile health teams covering Bogale
township and outlying communities, many of which can only be
reached by boat.

Meanwhile, IOM received eight more visas for Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) national emergency staff to support
IOM Yangon's Nargis response team. They include health, logistics
and operations specialists and will start to arrive in the country
tomorrow.

The additional international staff, together with newly
recruited national staff, will strengthen IOM's capacity to deliver
emergency health and shelter to cyclone victims in the delta, many
of whom are only now being located and identified.

IOM mobile health teams working out of Bogale and Mawlamyinegyun
townships this week managed to visit 28 villages, where they found
over 10,000 people living in temporary shelters, including temples
and public buildings.

They identified cases of acute diarrhea/gastroenteritis, bloody
diarrhea, ARI/pneumonia, measles, suspected malaria and jaundice.
They also treated 56 cases of traumatic injuries and other
non-specific conditions, including mental health problems.

An IOM psychologist from Indonesia specializing in post-disaster
mental health will arrive in Yangon today.

Cyclone Nargis, which struck the Irrawaddy delta and Yangon on
May 2nd and 3rd left up to 130,000 dead or missing and up to 2.4
million in need of humanitarian aid.

IOM is appealing for USD 8 million for emergency shelter and
health projects, as well as funds to coordinate the activities of a
temporary settlements working group within the Inter-Agency
Standing Committee (IASC) Emergency Shelter Cluster, which will
help people displaced by the cyclone now sheltering in camps,
temples or public buildings.

To date it has received USD 1.88 million, including USD 1.45
million from the UN Central Emergency Fund (CERF), USD 400,000 from
Chevron Corporation and USD 31,500 from Denmark.

For more information, please contact:

Chris Lom

IOM's regional office in Bangkok

Tel. +66.819275215

E-mail: "mailto:clom@iom.int">clom@iom.int