Pray for Myanmar today!

Please pray for healing for this devastated country. Give thanks for the supplies that are beginning to arrive.  Pray for grace for the Christians as they help their countrymen as well as care for their countrymen as well as care for their own family.   Pray they will have many opportunities to witness and share the love of Christ with these people. Click here to: Help bring direct assitance today!

100,000 may have died in Myanmar cyclone May 7, 2008 YANGON, Myanmar —Bodies floated in flood waters and survivors tried to reach dry ground on boats using blankets as sails, while the top U.S. diplomat in Myanmar said Wednesday that up to 100,000 people may have died in the devastating cyclone. Hungry crowds stormed the few shops that opened in the country's stricken Irrawaddy delta, sparking fist fights, according to Paul Risley, a spokesman for the U.N. World Food Program in neighboring Thailand. Shari Villarosa, who heads the U.S. Embassy in Myanmar, said food and water are running short in the delta area and called the situation there "increasingly horrendous."   "There is a very real risk of disease outbreaks as long as this continues," Villarosa told reporters. State media in Myanmar, also known as Burma, reported that nearly 23,000 people died when Cyclone Nargis blasted the country's western coast on Saturday and more than 42,000 others were missing. U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes said Thursday that the cyclone's death toll may rise "very significantly." The military junta normally restricts the access of foreign officials and organizations to the country, and aid groups were struggling to deliver relief goods. Internal U.N. documents obtained by The Associated Press showed growing frustrations at foot-dragging by the junta, which has kept the impoverished nation isolated for five decades to maintain its iron-fisted control. "Visas are still a problem. It is not clear when it will be sorted out," according to the minutes of a meeting of the U.N. task force coordinating relief for Myanmar in Bangkok, Thailand on Wednesday. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Myanmar's government to speed up the arrival of aid workers and relief supplies "in every way possible." State television in military-ruled Myanmar, though, said that the government would accept aid from any country and that help had arrived Wednesday from Japan, Bangladesh, Laos, Thailand, China, India and Singapore. Local aid workers started distributing water purification tablets, mosquito nets, plastic sheeting and basic medical supplies. But heavily flooded areas were accessible only by boat, with helicopters unable to deliver relief supplies there, said Richard Horsey, Bangkok-based spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid. "Most urgent need is food and water," said Andrew Kirkwood, head of Save the Children in Yangon. "Many people are getting sick. The whole place is under salt water and there is nothing to drink. They can't use tablets to purify salt water," he said. Save the Children distributed food, plastic sheeting, cooking utensils and chlorine tablets to 230,000 people in Yangon area. Trucks were sent to the delta on Wednesday, carrying rice, salt, sugar and tarpaulin. A Yangon resident who returned home from the area said people are drinking coconut water because of lack of safe drinking water. He said many people were on boats using blankets as sails.

Day After:Myanmar cyclone toll soars to 4,000! Cyclone toll could hit 10,000! Please pray for our missionaries in Mayanmar, where we have 32 children under the age of 10, help support our people in their work, to aid those around them and continue the care at the "Agape Children's Home." click here to: Act today to help those in Mayanmar The government says 4,000 have been killed and aid groups say the toll is likely to climb!   At least 4,000 people are now believed to have been killed and about 3,000 more are missing after cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar, the country's state media has reported. The death toll from the cyclone that hit over the weekend has officially reached 3,969 but with so many people missing is expected to rise, state television said on Monday. Hundreds of thousands of people are homeless and without clean drinking water, a UN official has said and aid agencies have called on Myanmar's military government to allow free movement so help can be given to victims of the deadly storm.  The reports came after the government earlier put the death toll at around 350.  The UN says the government has not responded to its offer to help after the storm destroyed communities and left thousands of people homeless. UN disaster experts said it could be days before the extent of the damage is known because of the government's tight control of communications.

Call for access The UN office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said that the government - which has indicated it will press ahead with a referendum on a new constitution on Saturday - was "having as much trouble as anyone else in getting a full overview" of the destruction.  "Roads are not accessible and many small villages were hit and will take time to reach," Terje Skavdal, the regional head of UNOCHA, said. Cyclone Nargis wreaks havoc in Myanmar Teams of foreign aid workers were trying to assess the damage and aid needs, but their access and movements are restricted by the military. "That is the existing situation for international staff. The way most agencies work is they use national staff who have more freedom to move," Skavdal said. "We will have a dialogue with the government to try to get access to the people affected," he added.

A plea for aid! We are praying the military government to allow aid groups unfettered access to the country. "International expertise in dealing with natural disasters is urgently required," said Naing Aung, secretary-general of the Thailand-based group. "The military regime is ill-prepared to deal with the aftermath of the cyclone." The government has declared the former capital of Yangon a disaster area after the storm's 190kph winds blew roofs off hospitals and cut off electricity supply. Yangon, the Irrawaddy Delta, Bago as well as the Karen and Mon states were heavily damaged and have been declared disaster areas. State-controlled television reported that 20,000 homes had been destroyed on Haingyi, an island in the Andaman sea. A further 90,000 people on the island, the first part of the country to be hit by the cyclone, were left homeless, the government said.