I am writing this to commemorate the 1st anniversary of Cyclone Nargis that swept through the Irrawady Delta of Myanmar in May 2008.
It has been a year, and what an intense year it has been.
I still remember the day I arrived. There was much chaos and confusion in the city. What could aid agencies do? What couldn't we do? And the question of where we could go and where we could not raged on. The uncertainties made international headlines for weeks.
Cyclone Nargis swept through the Delta and the country's main city and former capital, Yangon, with winds up to 200kph. An estimated 2.4 million people were affected. Official figures showed 84,537 people dead and 53,863 missing.
As a result of the severe impact on the community, MERCY Malaysia is undertaking the reconstruction of several health facilities in the Dedaye Township, a 2.5-hour drive from Yangon. We have a total of 13 projects in progress and some of these villages are located in very remote islands.
In the past year, both the international community and the local authorities have done good work despite all the challenges in the beginning: the disaster presented a mountainous task which inexperienced NGOs - which were more focused on development-drive projects - were understandably daunted by.
When I returned to Myanmar after a month or so, I found the UN-driven cluster meetings, especially the health cluster really impressive. (Clusters are consisted of Shelter, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Health, Food, etc. and led by one international agency that co-ordinates other aid agencies to ensure aid is rolled out effectively and there is no duplication).
While there were surveillance reports of the health condition on one side of the table, the local health authority was ready to answer or give their views of action taken in anticipation of any health issues.
This is probably the first time I have looked forward to attend a cluster meeting throughout my career in humanitarian work. I was pleasantly surprised at the co-operative response from the local authorities from a country deemed isolated, compared to the other countries that I have been stationed in before.
A year later, we have seen many projects up and running, many still in progress. But there are those who still suffer in silence. There is so much to be done. Many had use the Tsunami as a lesson to implement the intervention here.
It has been four years since I first joined the humanitarian world. Although I have come across some NGOs with upsetting practices, there are many more out there which do follow codes of conduct, the Sphere Standards and other accountability practices.
We do this is by taking the affected community into consideration, getting them involved in the process and treating them as equals.
Even though it is not easy and it is an ongoing learning process, the little that we can do on the field is really to uphold the rights to life and dignity of another human being. The good thing is the seeds of accountability practices have been planted in Myanmar, with the help of the eagerness to learn as expressed by the people of this amazing country.
A year has passed and most projects are yet to focus on sustainability but are still on emergency intervention. I have seen many shelter projects that may not survive the next thunderstorm. For example, latrines built with tarpaulin sheets instead of local materials like bamboo, a sturdier choice which is easy to maintain.
There are hardly enough reconstruction projects that follow the government's 'build back better' policy. The main reason behind this is funding: it is simply not coming in. We need more, much more. Perhaps because of this, most projects here emphasise on the coverage, rather than on its quality and sustainability.
But sometimes, people forget. A year has passed, other disasters have come and gone and the limelight has shifted to other countries. But the people of Myanmar are still paying the price of Nargis' visit. They remember her wrath.
Edward Hew
Programme Officer, Relief Operations
MERCY Malaysia