“While the pace of aid deliveries has increased in the past week, the entire relief effort is only scratching the surface of what is needed in a disaster of this scale.”

- Melissa Winkler, IRC emergency communications director, speaking with the Associated Press about the response to the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar.

“Supplies are getting to a fraction of the entire group of affected people—about 25 to 30 percent.”

- Anne Richard, IRC vice president for government relations and advocacy, telling Reuters about aid access to people affected by the cyclone

“The villagers are poor rice paddy farmers and they were so eager to receive help – anything at all. They are really struggling.”

- Aung Htun U, an IRC volunteer who this week took part in a mission to assist cyclone survivors in one of the hardest hit townships in Myanmar’s Irrawaddy Delta.

“An awful lot of people are very vulnerable. I haven’t heard any comments of people who have died because they haven’t received aid, but I think there undoubtedly are people who have not received aid, many, many hundreds of thousands, even into the millions.”

- Gordon Bacon, IRC emergency coordinator in Myanmar, speaking on National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition

“If these people aren’t reached and aid got to them quickly, and shelter and toilet facilities, disease will break out.”

- Gordon Bacon, IRC emergency coordinator in Myanmar, speaking with The Daily Telegraph (UK) about the dire conditions confronting cyclone victims

“Our partners who are now distributing the goods say that the local authorities have been extremely cooperative. We are also getting exceptionally good assistance from the monasteries, from the monks. They have helped us to identify who are the most vulnerable. They need, of course, much more help.”

- Melissa Winkler, IRC emergency communications director, in a Q&A with the Bangkok Post

“The Iraqis that we’re serving right now are coming with serious medical and psychosocial needs.”

- Vu Dang, IRC resettlement director in Silver Spring, Maryland, in an article on Examiner.com that profiled an Iraqi refugee family resettled by the IRC in the Washington, D.C. area

“Family reunification has been a difficult process for many. Some of the most difficult (cases) are those where children have been separated from mothers, for one reason or another. When mothers have attempted to use the processes available to them, the results have been very disappointing.”

- Ken Briggs, IRC resettlement director in Tucson, in an interview with The Tucson Citizen for a profile of Tommy Taye, a 29-year-old Liberian refugee who aspires to help other Liberian refugees in Tucson.

Over three days last week, the team delivered critical emergency supplies to hundreds of families, some 1,500 people, who had yet to receive any aid in Kunyangon Township. The materials included all locally-purchased mosquito nets, blankets, tarps, clothing, water containers, cooking supplies and candles … The IRC is also sending pre-positioned emergency supplies from its warehouse in Dubai. In all, the supplies will benefit an estimated 80,000 people.

As always, we are also seeking financial support from varied donors, including foundations and the concerned public … Most survivors have no access to clean drinking water, as virtually all water sources have been contaminated by human waste and decaying animal carcasses, and containers to collect rain water were washed away. It takes less than a spoonful of contaminated water for a person to come down with dysentery or cholera — highly infectious diseases that can quickly kill in the tens of thousands … In light of the magnitude of this crisis, a massive infusion of aid and experienced disaster response experts is needed to prevent a public health catastrophe.

We ask that the Congress include increased aid to the cyclone’s survivors as one part of the supplemental appropriations bill now under consideration … We ask for a great deal, but only because many, many lives are at stake and the United States can make a difference and save tens of thousands of lives. and the local activists and organizations working to assist them.

Please join us in speaking up for Burmese cyclone victims by sending this urgent message to your Senators and Representatives today. The full text of Greg Beck’s testimony is available here.

“It’s just awful. People are in just desperate need, begging as vehicles go past.”

- Gordon Bacon, IRC emergency coordinator in Myanmar, speaking with Reuters about the plight of Cyclone Nargis survivors.

“We didn’t reenter Iraq lightly. But we felt compelled given the further deteriorating humanitarian situation and lack of service providers.”

- Michael Kocher, IRC acting vice president of international programs, telling The Chronicle of Philanthropy about the IRC’s decision to restart programs in Iraq.

“I do this to soften the hearts in the community. I want them to know that being infected does not make you cursed or a monster.”

- Amuge Patricia, a member of a drama group based in Kotido district, Uganda, that performs plays and songs with HIV-related educational themes.

“Have you ever traveled to a place that couldn’t be farther from home, but where you felt an instant connection?  For me, that place is Liberia.”

- IRC communications officer Emily Holland in her first blog post from her second trip to Liberia

Watch at CNN.com >

To learn more and help, please visit theIRC.org/myanmar