Cyclone Nargis

Question 1

Damage cost

Answer 1

$4 billion

Question 2

Death toll

Answer 2

More than 130,000 dead

More than 70x Hurricane Katrina

So large because;

• little resistance over Irrawaddy Delta
• 95% houses in low lying town Bogale washed away
• 10,000 killed by 3.5m sea surge
• 75% hospitals/clinics destroyed
• diarrhoea and dysentery in cramped rescue areas

Question 3

Environmental

Answer 3

600,000 ha agricultural land damaged

60% farming implements lost

Question 4

Countries affected

Answer 4

Irrawaddy

Yagon

Ba go

Question 5

Occurrence

Answer 5

Formed in Bay of Bengal

April 2008

Cat 4 as approaching Myanmar

Winds 215 km/h

Landfall SE coast Myanmar, Burma, Irrawaddy division

Question 6

Management and responses

Answer 6

Since 1962 military junta - poor human rights record and limited global relations

Private supplies of food/aid sent to Buddhist monks to distribute rather than mistrusted government agencies

ASEAN intervened (Association of SE Asian Nations)

Donor countries = $50m at joint UN/ASEAN conference 25th May

July 2008 UN $300m

Question 7

Management and responses evaluation

Answer 7

$1b needed to deal with “tragedy of immense proportions” - cover food/agriculture/housing next 3 years

Junta refused ships from France/US because they thought they were critical of their regime