Private sector generously supports Myanmar cyclone emergency response

(New York, 19 June 2008): With $30 million worth of contributions, the private sector has emerged as a significant contributor to the Myanmar cyclone emergency, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said today. This includes $10 million raised by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) National Committees across the world.

Humanitarian agencies on 8 May launched a Flash Appeal to fund the humanitarian effort to help more than two million people affected by Cyclone Nargis. Some of the largest donors to projects in the Flash Appeal include the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), a key humanitarian financing mechanism managed by OCHA, which allocated $22 million to the appeal, and the United Kingdom, which gave $20 million.

Some of the largest private sector contributors to the Myanmar cyclone relief effort include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which gave a total of $3 million to non-governmental organizations, and Total oil company, which gave $2 million through the Red Cross and provided fuel for the transportation of relief supplies.

A number of companies are also channelling their donations through the CERF. They include the French reinsurance company SCOR, Western Union and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Members of the Business Roundtable, an association of chief executive officers of leading Unites States companies, have contributed a total of $7.5 million in cash and in-kind assistance for the Myanmar cyclone emergency. Contributors include Chevron, Procter and Gamble, Abbott Lab, American Express, Caterpillar, Merck & Co, Merrill Lynch, Pfizer and Schering-Plough. Business Roundtable members also contributed close to $61 million for the earthquake emergency in China.

Logistics companies Agility, TNT, UPS and DHL assisted humanitarian organizations with logistical expertise in Bangkok and Yangon. Microsoft helped OCHA to develop the Myanmar Humanitarian Information Centre website. These efforts are in line with the Guiding Principles for Public-Private Collaboration for Humanitarian Action prepared by the World Economic Forum and OCHA and launched in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2008.

Many other companies and foundations have offered help, confirming that the private sector is now a key player in humanitarian operations through both in-kind and cash donations.

The UN encourages public and private donors to report their contributions to the OCHA Financial Tracking Service (fts@reliefweb.int) to ensure that an accurate picture of international humanitarian aid flow is maintained. This global aid database helps all stakeholders to determine which emergencies and humanitarian sectors are under-funded.

Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar on 2 and 3 May 2008, making landfall in the Ayeyarwady Division and hitting the former capital, Yangon. An estimated 2.4 million people are affected. Official estimates have put the number of those either killed or missing at more than 130,000.

For further information, please call:

Stephanie Bunker, OCHA-New York, +1 917 367 5126, mobile +1 917 892 1679; John Nyaga, OCHA-NY, + 1 917 367 9262; Elisabeth Byrs, OCHA-Geneva, +41 22 917 2653, mobile, +41 79 473 4570