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The UN has just issued a report saying that six million people in Myanmar need food right now. How critical is the situation?
It's a real paradox, because in the same year that Cyclone Nargis devastated the, what had been the "rice bowl" of Myanmar, the Irrawaddy Delta, other areas of the country reported very satisfactory harvest. There's plenty of rice within the country. The challenge is how to get that rice to the areas of the country, the more remote areas where people simply do not have enough food for them or their families. Especially hit by Nargis were the farming communities in the Delta area. We believe we will probably have to provide emergency food assistance for nearly a million people in the Delta year, in the Delta area, in this coming year. In addition to that, the Chin State, in north of Rakhine State which is the home area of the Rohingya people. These areas are hardest hit and are considered real hunger hotspots.
Paul, will you be allowed to get to these areas and feed these desperate people?
We will, we've had uNPRecedented cooperation from the government of Myanmar in first allowing us to do this survey that showed us where the most critical areas are. But they are also allowing both the World Food Program and non-governmental organization who we've worked with on the ground access to these very critical areas. Just last week, we were able to send our first shipment of rice and maize for people in the Chin State. The Chin State has been hit hard by a rodent infestation. It's the, are rats that are consuming the local maize crop and just last week we have begun to deliver food to the farmers and the farming communities in that area.
OK, Paul, just quickly, do you think that the Rohingya refugees who've been reporting on of, of late, that they are fleeing Myanmar because of this critical food shortage?
We are very concerned by those reports. Um, the WFP team that went to Rakhine State, that traveled around, reported very high levels of malnutrition among children who lived there and large numbers of people without access to food largely because they can't afford food, because they don't have employment. There is no way for them to earn even the little money that they would need in order to purchase food. It's a great concern, it's an area of a very large population and it's clear that many people are leaving that area. They are looking for economic advancement elsewhere, uh and in some cases, by leaving Myanmar entirely.