Yangon, 21 June 2008
Chairman of the ASEAN-Myanmar-UN Tripartite Core Group (TCG), Deputy Foreign Minister of Myanmar, U Kyaw Thu, thanked members of the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment (PONJA) teams for their hard work and dedication as he welcomed them back to Yangon today.
The last batch of the PONJA teams returned to Yangon on June 20 after spending two weeks assessing the impact of Cyclone Nargis. All 38 PONJA teams, comprising 32 Village Tract Assessment (VTA) and 6 Damage and Loss Assessment (DaLA) teams, worked their way through Yangon and the Irrawaddy Divisions, covering over 250 affected villages.
Their critical work will be integrated into a comprehensive Post-Nargis Joint Assessment Report, which will be launched at the meeting of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers in July.
”I do believe that all the participating networks had a successful mission and the assessment works of both the VTA and the DaLA teams will be able to expedite activities of the relief, recovery and resettlement for the cyclone victims”, said Deputy Foreign Minister U Kyaw Thu.
During the welcome-back ceremony today, the VTA and DaLA team members recalled the tough conditions which they had worked in. Heavy rains, frequent breakdown of transportation, and poor road conditions have made their job much more difficult. However, these conditions also made the assessment teams appreciate the struggle that the people affected by Cyclone Nargis must have been enduring themselves.
The UN Resident Coordinator, Mr. Bishow Parajuli, applauded the teams for going out to even the hardest to reach villages to listen to the victims, which he said was the hardest part of the assessment. “By doing so, you touched many people’s hearts”, he told the teams. “You have given hope to many people, children, mothers, and fathers.”
The ceremony was also attended by Singapore Ambassador to Myanmar Robert Chua and Special Representative of the ASEAN Secretary-General Dr. Anish Kumar Roy. Ambassador Chua praised the teams for their courage and determination to complete the work despite the challenges of the monsoon season.
“You are still an untold story to the outside world. But we in ASEAN and at the TCG will tell your story in due course,” Ambassador Chua said. “You’ve done the work despite all the challenges and forged the team spirit across the nationalities and racial groups. I have great respect and admiration for your courage and determination.”
“This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship between our friends from Myanmar, ASEAN and the UN through this new structure called the TCG. It is a new model of international cooperation of the country affected by Cyclone Nargis, the regional organisation ASEAN, and the international community represented through the UN.”
Dr. Anish Kumar Roy, the Special Representative of ASEAN Secretary-General, also praised the PONJA teams for the hard work. “All of you the PONJA teams have done what the world wishes ASEAN and the UN do together, and that is bringing the compassion of the world into the Delta and sharing the real dire situation in the Delta with the outside world for future joint humanitarian actions. We are all proud of you and certainly the people in the Delta are grateful to you all.”
The TCG presented certificates of appreciation to all members of the PONJA teams, the regional hub coordinators, and the operators of the Control Room who kept track of the PONJA teams while they were in the field.
