U.N.: Myanmar Cyclone Survivors Still Need Shelter

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of people are still living in makeshift homes 18 months after Cyclone Nargis tore into Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta, killing at least 140,000, the United Nations said Wednesday.

International donors pledged a fresh $88 million for 17,800 new houses, 40 new schools and livelihood programs for 1 million people, but that won't be enough, the United Nations and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations said.

The money only covers 14 percent of the most vulnerable families, leaving about 100,000 without a proper home. The United Nations says 178,000 families in the former Burma need help with shelter.

Most of those families are living in makeshift homes covered with threadbare tarpaulins distributed in the early phase of the relief effort, according to aid workers.

"The materials have gone through two monsoons and they won't last another season," Srinivasa Popuri, leader of a shelter aid group in Myanmar, told Reuters.

In May last year, Cyclone Nargis swept through Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta, flattening villages, destroying 450,000 houses, killing 140,000 and leaving 2.4 million destitute.

"What is reflected here (with 17,800 new houses) is not what is needed. It is a much-reduced version of what may be possible to do between now and July," said Bishow Parajuli, U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator in Myanmar.

The latest pledge falls short of $103 million sought by the United Nations, ASEAN and the Myanmar government for the period ending next July. In February, that group estimated the cost of recovery from Cyclone Nargis at $690 million.