USAID Increases Assistance to Cyclone Victims in Burma

WASHINGTON, June 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID) is providing an additional $3 million to the
UN World Food Program to support its logistical operations in Burma, which
have dispatched more than 2,649 metric tons of humanitarian assistance to
those in need in the wake of Cyclone Nargis. The total USAID contribution to
WFP for logistical support in Burma is $4 million to date.

The UN World Food Program manages the UN Joint Logistics Common Pipeline
through which relief supplies, provided by the international community, are
distributed to the Burmese people. In support of their logistics operation,
the UN World Food Program has established five logistical hubs in the
cyclone-affected area from which they distribute relief commodities and food
assistance by barge, small boat, trucks and helicopters.

"The international humanitarian community has come to rely on the UN World
Food Program logistics operation to provide assistance to the Burmese people,
and we are pleased to offer this much needed additional support for the relief
efforts," said USAID Administrator Henrietta Fore.

To date, USAID has provided more than $31.4 million in emergency assistance in
response to the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis. This, combined with the
$9.5 million in assistance from the Department of Defense (DOD), brings the
total USG assistance to Burma to $40.9 million.

For more information about USAID's humanitarian assistance programs in Burma
and around the world, please visit
www.usaid.gov/our_work/humanitarian_assistance/disaster_assistance/.

The American people, through the U.S. Agency for International Development,
have provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for nearly 50
years.
CONTACT: USAID Public Information, 202-712-4810

SOURCE U.S. Agency for International Development

USAID Press Office, +1-202-712-4310