All the billboards and signs are in mangled heaps. Ironically, one of the very few billboards that remain standing is advertising a famous brand of chain saws, yet there are few in the country and the majority of the clean up and sawing is done by hand.
Many roads were blocked or barely passable, many cars were trapped in their own yards (if not flattened by falling trees). At first residents worked together to clear their own stretches of road. I was impressed by the quiet, uncomplaining manner in which people worked to clear up the mess and fix their houses with whatever materials they could find.
After some days convoys of army trucks began arriving and large groups of soldiers cleared the major roads with a few hand tools between them.
The fact that someone turned the electricity off to the whole city just before the storm hit probably saved countless lives as the power lines came down everywhere and there were wires on the roads and in the tree debris.
Yangon has remained largely without power since but now it is being restored in some areas. We got power at our flat on Thursday evening. Before that there was no water (which has to be pumped) and lifts in the flats did not work for some days.
We had filled buckets the morning after the storm, expecting the water to run out and we got by on that (and two buckets of dirty swimming pool water that we took up to flush the toilet) until the apartment building started running a generator periodically to fill the tanks so we could fill buckets from the taps. Now we have both water and power and feel very blessed!
Many people are still carrying water up in their apartment buildings and there are still queues for water in the inner city area. Working telephones are scarce. Prices of fuel, bus fares, taxis and all food have gone up dramatically.
It was hard to get most things as the major shops were closed and the small shops had very little stock. I thought it quite a triumph to find some eggs and candles.
Furthermore, with no power there was no refrigeration so food would not keep many hours in the heat. The ice factories have been unable to operate so we have avoided meat from the markets.
Transport was difficult with even many major roads closed or severely narrowed, few buses and expensive fares. It is improving a lot in the city now, but it still looks like a war zone. The local people have remained calm and stoic and there have been few reports of trouble.
Our children's school has reopened, although it is held together with plywood and plastic sheeting and it is the only international school that has been able to reopen.
An Aid Worker Visits the Pyapon Township, Irrawaddy Division
The Myanmar government has restricted travel for foreigners into the Irrawaddy Division after Cyclone Nargis. This is the experience of one partner who traveled into the area:
We were invited to visit the affected area, which we had been to in the past, with a leader who was returning to his native village.
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