YANGON, Myanmar — A rare bird’s-eye look at Myanmar’s Irrawaddy delta shows the devastation still left from Cyclone Nargis — broken levies, flooded farm roads, the shattered remains of bamboo huts and trees strewn like matchsticks along the coast.
Conditions are far more stark than reflected in assessments from Myanmar’s government and even in the recent optimism of some U.N. officials, The Associated Press has concluded from a review of data, a private flight over the delta and interviews with victims and aid workers.
Three months after a disaster that left more than 130,000 dead or missing, thousands are still getting little or nothing from the government or aid groups.
“We lost everything — our house, our rice, our clothes. We were given just a little rice by a private aid group from Yangon. I don’t know where the government or foreign organizations are helping people, but not here,” said Khin Maung Kyi, a 60-year- old farmer who lost six children to the storm.
Some areas have received help in the delta. During a fly- over, brand-new metal roofs atop reconstructed homes glittered in the tropical sunlight, farmers worked in green rice paddies, and gangs of workers struggled to remove debris from canals and repair broken embankments.
But progress is slow and behind where it should be.
“The situation in Myanmar remains dire,” said Chris Kaye, who heads relief operations for the U.N. World Food Program. “The vast majority of families simply don’t have enough to eat.”
