May 21, 2008 Silver Spring, Maryland, Estados Unidos ANN Staff

Members of the Adventist Church in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, load disaster relief supplies for earthquake victims. [photos: David Ng/ANN]

The Adventist Development and Relief Agency is stepping up its assistance to the survivors of two natural disasters in East Asia earlier this month.

ADRA workers were the first to deliver aid to stranded survivors in Myanmar's isolated Pyinsalu Islands May 20, two weeks since a cyclone struck the country's coast.

ADRA is working with the United Nations and the government of Myanmar to help provide emergency aid to at least 30,000 residents of the hard-hit southern Irrawaddy Delta region.

More than 78,000 people have died and 56,000 remain missing, The Associated Press reported today.

ADRA teams traveling by boat have each delivered enough food for some 2,000 people for a week. Relief workers have also distributed medical supplies, water purification systems, kitchen kits, blankets and clothing.

ADRA is also partnering with the World Food Program to provide some 25 metric tons of rice to approximately 50,000 internationally displaced persons in 14 camps.

ADRA's emergency response efforts to last week's 7.9 magnitude earthquake in China are centered in the town of Jiulong in Sichuan province, where about 12,000 people are expected to receive direct assistance. ADRA's emergency personnel of 40 volunteers have already conducted the first distribution of relief goods with the assistance of local authorities.

The death toll has topped 67,000 with another 20,000 missing, reports indicate. This disaster is considered the worst earthquake in China since 1976 when another quake killed more than 240,000 people.

More emergency supplies are on their way to the disaster site. ADRA officials reported the local mood was still tense due to ongoing aftershocks, landslides and heavy rains.

For more information, visit adra.org.

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