Cyclone Nargis

Following Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, the President of the Grand Charity has announced an emergency grant of £20,000 will be made available to Save the Children to help provide much-needed aid to the victims of this terrible disaster. The Freemasons’ Grand Charity is also in discussions with District Grand Lodges in the affected region to identify what support it may be able to provide to their own efforts. 

More than 32,000 people are now believed to have been killed by the high winds and resulting tidal surge which struck on 2nd May 2008; destroying homes, crops and infrastructure. Following the Cyclone, Save the Children quickly redirected the efforts of 500 staff already in the country from work on longer-term projects to the emergency relief response. Essential supplies, including food and clean water have already been distributed to over 100,000 people.

The grant of £20,000 from the Freemasons’ Grand Charity will be an important contribution to this ongoing work and is enough to provide plastic sheeting for temporary accommodation to 1,400 families, including around 33,000 children.