Disaster Relief

U.N. helicopters loaded with relief supplies have reached several areas of Myanmar's Irrawaddy River delta that had been cut off from regular aid since a devastating cyclone five weeks ago, a World Food Program spokesman said Monday. Four of the five aircraft that arrived over the weekend shuttled emergency supplies such as rice and water purification systems to villages, said Paul Risley, the spokesman. More sites were expected to be reached today, he said.

The top U.N. humanitarian affairs official said Monday that the world body had suffered significant losses while delivering cyclone aid to Myanmar because of a distorted official exchange rate. This month, the United Nations issued an appeal for more than $300 million in extra aid to cope with the effects of Cyclone Nargis, which left about 140,000 people dead or missing when it struck the Irrawaddy delta region in early May.

Lisa Bialac-Jehle was just a few minutes from sleep Friday night when her phone rang. It was the American Red Cross, and they were calling about a fire. The caller told Bialac-Jehle, 52, a member of the organization's disaster action team, that she was needed immediately at Sylmar High School to help victims who had fled there. So she threw on some clothes, hopped in the car and sped up the 405.

National Guard helicopters dropped emergency food bundles for people and bales of hay for livestock trapped by snowdrifts as high as rooftops after back-to-back blizzards. "Most of my cattle haven't seen food since last Thursday, when the snow started," said Tony Hall, who has 200 head on a ranch near Lamar. "Wherever they were standing when the snow piled up, that's where they are now." The helicopters also dropped military rations near homes so trapped residents could reach the bundles.

Brazil began planning relief for tens of thousands of people forced from their homes by weeks of heavy rains and mudslides. Mudslides killed at least 26 people in Rio de Janeiro state and three in neighboring Sao Paulo state. Another 26 deaths have been blamed on rains in Minas Gerais state since October. Most of those affected lived in shantytowns perched on hillsides.

Frustrated by inaction in Washington, Florida officials this week are asking other states to join them in setting up an insurance catastrophe fund. If established, a multi-state fund would bail out regions hit by cataclysmic disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, flooding and even terrorism. But unlike a national fund, which Congress has balked at creating, it wouldn't rely on the financial backing of the federal government. Only interested states would participate.

Karla Mongan has gone door to door in Mississippi towns destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, handed out aid and comforted relatives of people who died during raging prairie wildfires. But nothing prepared the Red Cross volunteer for her latest assignment -- operating a shelter for residents of her hometown. Coffeyville was swamped by oil-slicked floodwaters this week. "It hits home when you can relate to everything that's going on," said Mongan, 40. "It's very devastating."

After a massive earthquake rocked Peru's Pacific coast this week, restaurant owner Victor Escobar knew he had to act. Hundreds had lost their lives. Thousands had lost their homes. His own father lived near the epicenter and had narrowly escaped injury. Escobar, whose family owns the restaurant chain El Pollo Inka, decided to donate $10,000 to the relief effort. He also plans to give 10% of the proceeds over the next two weeks from the chain's four Southern California locations.

lima, peru -- The appearance of donated cans of tuna with labels containing the image of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and a condemnation of the Peruvian government as "heartless" caused a political storm here Monday in the midst of an already controversial earthquake relief effort. "One has to ask who is behind this," President Alan Garcia said after a Lima newspaper reported that the polemical tins were being distributed in the quake-ravaged region south of the capital.

Area disaster relief and charitable organizations are looking for volunteers to help serve the growing ranks of evacuees at emergency shelters. The following is a short list of organizations seeking volunteers to help with those affected by wildfires. American Red Cross of Greater Los Angeles: "People can donate their time," said Myra Jolivet, chief marketing officer for the Red Cross. "We always need help with servicing the needs of people who have been displaced."