20 June 2008

U.S. Increases Assistance to Burmese Victims of Cyclone Nargis

USAID provides additional $3 million to U.N. World Food Program in Burma

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U.S. Agency for International Development
June 19, 2008

USAID Increases Assistance to Cyclone Victims in Burma

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is providing an additional $3 million to the UN World Food Program to support its logistical operations in Burma, which has dispatched more than 2,649 metric tons of humanitarian assistance to those in need in the wake of Cyclone Nargis. The total USAID contribution to WFP for logistical support in Burma is $4 million to date.

The UN World Food Program manages the UN Joint Logistics Common Pipeline through which relief supplies, provided by the international community, are distributed to the Burmese people. In support of their logistics operation, the UN World Food Program has established five logistical hubs in the cyclone-affected area from which they distribute relief commodities and food assistance by barge, small boat, trucks and helicopters.

“The international humanitarian community has come to rely on the UN World Food Program logistics operation to provide assistance to the Burmese people, and we are pleased to offer this much needed additional support for the relief efforts,” said USAID Administrator Henrietta Fore.

To date, USAID has provided more than $31.4 million in emergency assistance in response to the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis. This, combined with the $9.5 million in assistance from the Department of Defense (DOD), brings the total USG assistance to Burma to $40.9 million.

For more information about USAID’s humanitarian assistance programs in Burma and around the world, please visit www.usaid.gov/our_work/humanitarian_assistance/disaster_assistance/.

The American people, through the U.S. Agency for International Development, have provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for nearly 50 years.

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