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Tuesday, May 27, 2008
As long as some of it gets there
We had a conference call this morning with Kerry. She is doing a really fantastic job now that Brian is missing. There has been some doubt as to whether all the aid has been received by the refugees (or displaced people or the disaster victims). In Brian last report he said that 50% had been delivered to the value of $270,000 and that the 2nd half was to have been delivered last Friday 24 hrs after Brian disappeared. The suppliers and partner organisations assured us that these goods have been delivered. It has been difficult for Kerry to verify the deliveries were made and Brian was not able to go with the deliveies as he was so busy corrdinating the aid in Yangon.
It is essential now that Kerry tries to find out if all the aid was delivered. In the conference call she said that here Taxi driver was willing to travel down to the delta to find out. That was really good news and the crisis team is a lot more confident now. Brian had made photos of the trucks leaving and the supplies and so we have good descriptions of the goods. Basically pretty identical to what the UN agencies are giving out. It saved us so much time being able to source them locally.
We should have some emergency unit staff in the area later this week now that the restrictions on visas are starting to lift.Things are really looking up now for the response and we should have some more feet on the ground soon. Still no news on Brian but we are hoping for the best and we are sure he will turn up soon.