Indian donates transformers to aid Nargis-hit Rangoon

Friday, 02 July 2010 14:28 Salai Han Thar San

New Delhi (Mizzima) – India’s government has donated power transformers to Burma, according to the Indian embassy in Rangoon, to bring electricity to homes in some of the areas still suffering the effects of Cyclone Nargis two years after it churned through the Irrawaddy Delta region, killing at least 140,000 people.

India had promised to donate 16 transformers, valued in total at US$1.9 million, in early June and sent 14 units on June 8. The rest were sent on Wednesday.

Transformers are essential for high-voltage power transmission, which makes long-distance power supply economically practical. They convert electricity sent along high-voltage lines from power generating companies to the voltage homes require.

“Cyclone Nargis hit Burma, our neighbouring country, in 2008 and at that time we helped Burma as soon as we could,” the embassy spokesman told Mizzima on Wednesday. “We have donated the transformers according to our promise.”

The transformers with ranges between 315 kilovolts to 30 megavolts were made by Indian firm Bharat Heavy Electricals and shipped to Rangoon for installation in 16 townships, an Electric Power Corporation (EPC) chief engineer told a Burmese weekly journal.

Cyclone Nargis swept in from the Indian Ocean and wreaked havoc across the Irrawaddy Delta and southern Rangoon Division on May 2, 2008, uprooting electricity poles and severing cables. According to the Rangoon EPC, the estimated value of damage in Rangoon alone was about 4 billion Kyats (about US$4 million).

India, among the first countries to supply aid to Burma in the storm’s aftermath, sent two Indian Navy ships carrying a total of 100 tons of relief material, and two aircraft.

Five days after Nargis made landfall, India supplied 32 tons of medicines, blankets, temporary tents and food. On May 16, the neighbouring country sent 50 doctors and six tons of medicines to the hardest hit delta region, the embassy spokesman said.

Although the devastated region needed an estimated US$691 million in the 2009-2011 period for buildings, health-care systems, education and other needs, it had received just US$180 million, according to sources.

The cyclone on May 2 and 3, 2008, killed at least 140,000 people, displaced 2.4 million and total damage was estimated at US$4 billion. According to Reuters AlertNet, aid workers have said two years on that about 800,000 survivors were still living in makeshift shelters.

“The home-made shelters cobbled together from tarpaulin and bamboo poles, give them little protection from the elements, especially during the annual monsoon season,” the news agency’s aid portal reported.

On the other basics that people need it added: “Tens of thousands of people lack drinking water, especially during the dry season which lasts from November to May. Ponds and wells were heavily salinated after seawater flooded the region.”