Burmese survivors of cyc­lone Nargis are trying to rebuild their battered lives but their situation remains precarious, with many families struggling to get enough to eat each day, according to a new international study.

Almost a third of households in the cyclone-hit Irra­waddy delta say they have no food stocks, while a further fifth say they have just enough for a day, highlighting the urgent need for continuing food aid.

The widespread shortage of food is one of the crucial findings to emerge from the first systematic assessment of conditions in the region since cyclone Nargis struck nearly two months ago.

More than 300 foreign and Burmese staffers of the United Nations, the Association of South-East Asian Nations, the Burmese government, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, along with civil society volunteers, spent 10 days talking to rural villagers about their lives before and after Nargis.

While the data are still being tabulated and analysed, early results indicate that about 60 per cent of households lack adequate access to clean water and 22 per cent are experiencing psychological stress. Three out of five villages say they do not have enough seeds to plant rice in the forthcoming monsoon season.

“The findings tell a story of a shaken rural economy,” Richard Blewitt, a project manager for the assessment, told the Financial Times. “People are living precariously. It’s not famine, but they are on the edge and there is a need for continued relief.”

When completed, the assessment – whose preliminary findings were obtained by the FT – is intended to give aid agencies and donors an independent picture of conditions on the ground. It also aims to serve as a common reference point for discussions between Burma’s military rulers and the international community.

So far, fundraising for the relief effort has been sluggish, with just 66 per cent of the UN’s emergency appeal funded. The World Food Programme has warned it could be forced to ground 10 helicopters ferrying food into the delta unless it receives more money within days.

International aid agencies’ fears of a “second wave” of deaths from disease have not been realised, despite the Burmese military’s resistance to the initial relief effort. But while Burmese villagers are coping with the aftermath of the disaster, Mr Blewitt said, they still faced severe hardships.
Although many families have rebuilt shelters, the new structures are less sturdy than the wooden homes destroyed in the storm. Mr Blewitt said diets had also changed, with people eating less protein.

International agencies are also concerned that rural families might be forced to borrow from moneylenders at high interest rates to buy rice seeds for planting and other supplies. About 78 per cent of households reported they had no access to credit.