Cyclone Nargis struck on 02 May 2008 and was the worst disaster due to natural hazards in the recorded history of Myanmar. It left > 146,000 people dead and thousands more homeless. More than 200 hospitals and 400 clinics were destroyed by the cyclone. Singapore was the first non-bordering country to send a medical team to help Myanmar with the disaster relief efforts and carried out operations using mobile teams.

Demographic and medical data from the medical records were collected and analyzed.

A total of 4,489 patients were seen in nine days at hospitals, eight camps/villages, an orphanage, and an elderly care facility. Of the patients, 65% were female. More than a quarter of the patients were <12 years of age and 16.5% were >60 years old. The pediatrie patients suffered mainly from respiratory (26%) and gastrointestinal infections (28%), whereas the adults had a significant number of mus-culoskeletal complaints (21%), non-specific diagnoses (19%), and chronic medical conditions (11%). Only (6%) of the conditions required surgical interventions. A significant number of complaints were related to post traumatic stress disorder (10%).

Mobile clinics were useful for treating patients who did not have access to medical care. The post disaster epidemics that were expected were not experienced. Given the patient load, it was useful to have a pediatrician, primary healthcare physician, and emergency physician to cope with the cyclone-related medical conditions.

When Cyclone Nargis hit the Ayeyanwadi delta of Myanmar on 03 May 2008 at a speed of 190 km/h, nearly 140,000 people lost their lives and approximately two million were left homeless. As an additional challenge, the military regime of Myanmar denied any relief organizations or workers outside SouuSeast Asia access to the disaster site.

During a one-week mission to the former capital of Yangon beginning one month after the disaster, relief provided to the affected population was studied. The working methods and effectiveness of a small non-governmental organization (NGO) already established in Myanmar were evaluated.

The long visa queues of relief workers gave organizations already working in Myanmar a great advantage. New strategies involved the rapid employment of personnel from Southeast Asia for fieldwork Improved administrative procedures made the field teams work more effectively. The NGO studied 30 rapidly engaged, new, local, health workers, sufficient for five medical teams to work in the field.

In spite of denied access to the disaster field, United Nations organizations and NGOs were able to initiate an effective administration and support to the many teams including >80 medical teams sent to the disaster site. The restricted movement gave more time and resources to relief planning, which is of importance for future incidents. Smaller NGOs were able to benefit from the improved administrative procedures introduced in the process.