The category three cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar on 2nd and 3rd May 2008 with wind speeds of up to 200 km/h accompanied by heavy rain. The damage was most severe in the delta region, where the effects of the extreme winds were compounded by a 12-foot storm surge. Nargis was the worst natural disaster in the history of Myanmar and the most devastating cyclone to strike Asia since 1991. The official death toll stood at 84,537 with 53,836 people reported missing at the time of the PDNA and 19,359 injured. Some 2.4 million people were severely affected by the cyclone out of an estimated 7.35 million people living in the affected towns. About 800,000 people were displaced by the cyclone with some 260,000 people living in camps or settlements throughout the delta in the initial days after the cyclone.
To provide a comprehensive and rapid basis for humanitarian and recovery programs, a Post Nargis Joint Assessment (PONJA) was undertaken. The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), the United Nations, and the Myanmar Government led it jointly with technical support from a range of humanitarian and development partners, including the Asian Development Bank, World Bank, and many non-governmental organizations. The assessment was comprehensive in the sense that, in a rather exceptional way, it covered humanitarian as well as recovery needs.
The total amount of damages and losses caused by cyclone Nargis in the affected areas of Myanmar is estimated at about US$ 4,057 million, equivalent to 21 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the previous fiscal year. Housing and industry were the two most-affected sectors followed by agriculture, and transport & communication. The PONJA estimated recovery costs for some of the principal recovery activities at US $1 billion. Around 90 percent of all recovery costs estimated – all those except transport and communications - were activities planned and delivered direct to the local community level. The assessment identified a number of priority actions to implement disaster risk reduction programs including a comprehensive multi-hazard risk assessment in the short and medium term to guide the reconstruction process as well as future development.