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16 June 2008
BELGIUM – Twelve Belgian aid workers left for Burma on Sunday to provide help to cyclone victims in the Irrawaddy delta.
This is the second Belgian team that is dispatched to Burma. From 27 May to 7 June, a first team provided aid to some eight villages in the Irrawaddy Delta.
The cyclone that struck Myanmar has since claimed over 100,000 lives.
Emergency surgeon Dr Luc Beaucourt will head the operation. The team hopes to be able to work in the field for six days.
The Flemings will provide medical aid, but will also focus on providing clean drinking water.
The team includes four logistic support workers, two of whom are fire-fighters from the Kontich fire brigade in Antwerp province. Dr Beaucourt told the VRT that the cyclone and the subsequent tsunami contaminated all drinking water wells with seawater.
As a result, people are now dependant on rain water.
The Belgian team is taking two tonnes of medical aid to Burma as well as two mobile pump units and equipment for small scale water purification. The aid will allow the team to ensure that drinking wells can be used once again.
Dr Beaucourt and his team hope to provide help to villages that were not accessible last time.
[flandersnews.be / Expatica]