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The crisis in Myanmar is continuing to deteriorate as thousands of people remain homeless and relief supplies are slow in coming. Member churches of the World Council of Churches (WCC) are finding it difficult to respond to the crisis despite their willingness to provide funds and personnel. A former staff member living in Myanmar has said the situation continues to worsen.
The Thailand-based Christian Council of Asia said on 9 May it planned to send a staff team to Myanmar, "however unfortunately the visas were not available due to the close down of Myanmar embassy for few days".
Christian organizations throughout the world are calling for aid and support for the stricken people of Myanmar (formerly Burma) of whom about 62,000 are believed have lost their lives due to a typhoon.
But almost one week after the devastating cyclone, people in Myanmar are still waiting for relief supplies which aid workers say are being turned back as they arrive at the airport. Aid organizations say the are also not able to obtain visas for their workers to enter the southeast Asian country.
"I do hope that the Myanmar government will give easy access and provide necessary assistance to international aid workers and humanitarian aid agencies to facilitate relief operations in affected areas in Myanmar," said WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia in a letter to the Myanmar Christian Council and the WCC member churches in the country on 6 May.
A former WCC staff member living in Myanmar wrote from Yangon: "We also face water and electricity shortages. It is very difficult to get water to the 4th floor that we live. Many trees have fallen down and the weather is very, very hot.
"We use sticks for fire. The newspaper says it will take one month to get electricity. I can't go too far because the bus fare is so high and difficult to go from one place to another. All the people in Yangon are suffering now If people don't have money in hand, they can't do anything. I'll e-mail you in two or three weeks."
She was responding to messages that churches would support the people of Myanmar. Among other church agencies, the humanitarian aid arm of the WCC and its member churches, Action by Churches Together (ACT) has initiated a process to mobilize all possible humanitarian assistance to the people in affected areas in the coming days.
(Ecumenical News International contributed to this story.)
Full text of the WCC general secretary's letter