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Almost two years after Cyclone Nargis, the Ayeyarwady delta is gradually recovering. Major challenges remain and survivors are still struggling, but thousands of families have received new houses, villages have been restored and now have improved water supplies. Farmers have received fertilizer and tools, and fishermen have new boats. Schools and health centres are being constructed and numerous training sessions on health and disaster preparedness have been conducted.

The nightmare of Cyclone Nargis and the miserable days and nights that followed are a thing of the past for Ko Kyaw Win Naing and his family. The cyclone which struck Myanmar in early May 2008, destroyed their home forcing him, his pregnant wife and four children to seek shelter in a school. Nargis left 84,500 people dead and 53,800 missing, and an additional 2.4 million people, mainly in the Ayeyarwady delta, severely affected, according to the United Nations.

Today, Ko Kyaw Win Naing and his family enjoy a sound and dry night’s sleep in their new home in Thone Kyaing village in the delta, thanks to the Myanmar Red Cross Society’s household shelter project.

Their new home was built in early July 2009. It was constructed by local carpenters and Ko Kyaw Win Naing himself, under the supervision of shelter technicians and field assistants attached to the Red Cross office in Maubin township where Thone Kyaing village is located.

Ko Kyaw Win Naing, his wife Ma Ni Ni Mar, and their now five children are among 416 families from across the Maubin township selected for the Red Cross household shelter project. Households which had not yet received or been able to rebuild a new home were selected for this project.

Ma Ni Ni Mar and the children also helped out with small tasks during the construction. Their new home is made of wood, poles, bamboo, bamboo matting, coir ropes and dani (palm).

“Our home protects us during heavy rains and even the baby sleeps soundly”, says Ko Kyaw Win Naing, adding that he would not have been able to construct it alone, having a meager income as a casual
labourer.

All he could do in the aftermath of Nargis was to build a simple hut using the debris from his old home which had collapsed during the cyclone. The family then moved from the school where they had sought refuge, into the hut.

“But we were miserable. It was uncomfortable for us as there were seven of us. When it rained, almost everything got wet and the children cried and could not sleep”. Their new home, he says, has made such a difference.

The shelter project aims to provide new houses to 15,000 families across 11 townships. It also includes the construction of Red Cross posts for a variety of uses by communities and Red Cross volunteers as well as schools and rural health centres, and repairs to community buildings damaged by the cyclone.

Assistance is also being provided to affected communities through other programmes under the Nargis Operation. These include livelihoods projects such as fertilizer distribution for paddy farmers and sharing innovative agricultural methods and techniques with them; the Cash-for‐Work programme for villagers participating in the rehabilitation of community infrastructure damaged by the cyclone; and community‐based health and first aid projects such as training villagers to increase health awareness through the promotion of first aid and hygiene, as well as disease prevention initiatives.

Red Cross has also provided psychosocial support to schools, individuals and whole communities with the aim of helping survivors to overcome the stress and trauma they have experienced since the cyclone.

Other support includes the establishment and rehabilitation of water and sanitation facilities, as well as disaster preparedness which will help the communities respond better to a possible new disaster.