Shutting Down the Blog

Dear all: The Relief resource has served its purpose and now will move gracefully into history. We hope that it was useful to you and encourage you to create your own blogs around topics and current events. 

-- The Team

FCCT announces 2008 Photo Awards

The Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT) is pleased to announce its Second Annual FCCT Photojournalism Awards, the premier photojournalism contest, which is open to all amateur and professional photographers in the Southeast Asia region, including Burma. For details, click here

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International Media Awards for humanitarian and human rights

Applications are being accepted now for articles and other creative works illustrating aspects of human rights, as detailed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Click here for more....

Tripartite Core Group Press Release on Missing Relief Money

The TRIPARTITE CORE GROUP made up of ASEAN, the Government of Myanmar & the United Nations has released a press release on the issue of finding solutions to foreign exchange loss of Cyclone Nargis humanitarian aid. To read the full text of the press release, click here.

Preventing Corruption in Humanitarian Assistance Report

A joint publication of Feinstein International Center, Transparency International and the Humanitarian Policy Group, this report is the first product of a program aimed at preventing corruption in humanitarian operations, focusing on the aftermath of both natural disasters and civil conflicts. Published in July 2008, the report examines the risks of corruption in humanitarian assistance as well as how humanitarian agencies deal with corruption issues.

Click here to download a copy of the report.

Alternative humanitarian report on Cylone Nargis relief effort released

A new report- "An Alternative assessment of Humanitarian Assistance in Irrawaddy Delta: situation after 60 days" has now been released. The report was based on an informal, independent assessment and looks at the situation on the ground in the Irrawaddy Delta especially in Laputta and Ngeputaw townships. The report touches on issues such as humanitarian assistance being delivered by the UN and international agencies, the government response to the cyclone as well as ongoing restriction of the relief efforts and social groups' involvement in the relief efforts. To download the report, click here.

For further comments or questions, please email Ko Shwe at thuebee@gmail.com

ASEAN Press Conference to Release PONJA Report

The long awaited Post-Nargis Joint Assessment (PONJA) Report will be presented to the ASEAN Foreign Ministers when they meet in Singapore on 20-21 July 2008. The ASEAN Chair, Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo, will preside over the launch of the report in Singapore on 21 July 2008. The report will be released concurrently in Yangon.

Secretary-General of ASEAN and Chair of the Task Force, Dr Surin Pitsuwan said, “We anticipate a comprehensive, credible and viable report based on the objective needs of the victims of Cyclone Nargis; a report that will be useful to help guide the relief and recovery efforts in cyclone-hit Myanmar, so that the medium-term needs of the Nargis victims are sufficiently addressed.”

PONJA is a joint assessment by ASEAN, the Government of Myanmar and the United Nations, with technical support from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. The assessment relies on two approaches: a rapid household and community survey of more than 290 villages in the affected areas, and an economic assessment of the damage and losses by sector.

For information about attending the press conference and report launch, please contact the ASEAN Secretariat Media Office.