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Myanmar relief focuses on Southeast Asia partnership |
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YANGON, Myanmar (BP)--In spite of obstacles that prevented a traditional disaster relief response, Southern Baptists have found creative ways to help victims of Cyclone Nargis in the two months since the storm unleashed its fury on Myanmar.
Perhaps a million people were left homeless by the storm, which roared across the Southeast Asian country May 3 with winds of up to 120 mph. An estimated 134,000 people are dead or missing. Perhaps 1.5 million were believed to be at risk for serious health problems in the storm's aftermath. Myanmar's military government tightly restricted the flow of relief supplies and aid workers into the hard-hit Irrawaddy Delta.
"We quickly saw that visas for volunteers to go into Myanmar were going to be very difficult, if not impossible, to get," said Francis Horton, who directs work in Central and South Asia for Baptist Global Response, a Southern Baptist international relief and development organization.
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