Union Aid Abroad Burma Cyclone Appeal - please donate now
13 May 2008, 9:47am
‘This is a humanitarian disaster on an unimaginable scale and we are asking all Australians to donate through Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA to the disaster relief work already underway by Norwegian People’s Aid and grassroots organisations on the ground’ - Sharan Burrow, ACTU.
Please encourage your family, friends, colleagues and all unionists you talk to, to support Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA’s Emergency Cyclone Appeal for the people of Burma.
Donate online, over the phone or by post NOW
Cyclone Nargis devastated the Irrawaddy delta in Burma and has caused a horrendous loss of life - 100,000 people so far have been reported dead. Over a million people have lost their homes. Of Burma's 54 millions people, 24 million live in the areas impacted by the cyclone.
Here's a chance for all of us to support the Australian union movement's aid agency and ensure support goes DIRECTLY to the people impacted.
Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA has worked for a long time with the people of Burma. The projects are not inside Burma but with the refugee and migrant worker communities on the Thai-Burma Border. The decision not to work inside Burma is a policy decision in line with the ACTU's policy. (Contact us on 02 9264-9343 if you would like more info on this). However Norwegian People's Aid (NPA), the humanitarian aid agency of Norwegian trade unions do have local and international staff based in Rangoon. Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA's appeal will deliver assistance directly and accountably to local people via NPA.
Donation form attached and instructions on how to donate below.
Burma Cyclone Relief Appeal
Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA has a close relationship with both Norwegian People's Aid and the National Council of Unions in Burma and are resolute that aid will go to the people in who most need it. Those people who were already made vulnerable by the military regime and who have been made desperate by this cyclone.
Union Aid Abroad does not run operational programs in Burma so our aid effort will be channelled through international and local aid agencies with a mixture of cash funding, technical expertise and equipment.
The situation current in Burma
The situation is grim. Days after Cyclone Nargis devastated Rangoon, local residents are still fending for themselves with little or no help from local authorities. There are reports of tens of thousands of lives lost and we can only expect that number to grow as long as aid delivery is delayed by the military Junta.
People now are in desperate need for food, water, shelter and medical aid. The people responding to their needs have been the monks of Burma who are sheltering people in their monasteries and providing as much food aid and water as they can. 'Most people are homeless, without water and without electricity. I believe that soon our people will be starving,' said a resident from Shwepyithar Township. 'Most people are drinking dirty water.'
Norwegian People's Aid is currently assessing the damage and the needs of the people and it still finalising the details of its relief effort. However we are determined to get aid to the people in greatest need with your assistance.
Funds raised by Australian people through Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA:
These funds will go directly to Norwegian People's Aid's Rangoon office who will work with grassroots associations in Burma to get aid to people in need.
Top priorities for aid are of course clean water, food, shelter and medical assistance.
Please give generously to the people of Burma at this desperate time
How to make your donation to Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA's Burma Cyclone Appeal
