The Myanmar cyclone and the China earthquake. It’s very unusual for two natural disasters of such massive scale to occur within such a small window of time. Luckily, UNICEF is used to dealing with more than one emergency at once, while also ensuring that none of the ongoing programs in more than 150 countries where we work in suffer. I guess you could say we’re very good at multi-tasking on a global level.

As you know, UNICEF began responding within a day of the disaster, drawing on pre-positioned emergency medical supplies. Here’s a quick recap of what’s been delivered to date:

• 6,000 ORS, 1,500 water guards, 10 essential drug kits (to cover 5,000 people per kit), 20 first aid kits, 270 tarpaulins, 1 bleaching drum and 300 family kits to Laputta, Irrawady division
• 5,000 ORS, 5,000 water guards, 10 drug kits, 20 first aid kits, 100 tarpaulins and 1 bleaching drum to Mawlemyine Kyun, Irrawaddy division.

Reports coming out of Myanmar are increasingly grim. Fatalities are likely to be in the tens of thousands, and the affected population more than 1 million.

UNICEF is taking the lead in water and sanitation, as children under 5 are particularly vulnerable to water-borne diseases in the aftermath of a natural disaster.

Dina Montes is on staff at the U.S. Fund for UNICEF and will be blogging regularly about the Tap Project. This is her first post.

The word on the Tap Project is pouring out.

With World Water Day just a month away, newspapers and magazines articles are generating buzz. The March issue of Family Circle reminds readers to save the date (March 22) for Tap, while a Feb. 13 article in the New York Times business section covers the U.S. Fund’s partnership with 14 top advertising agencies across the country and the cool, cutting-edge ad copy created in cities like Los Angeles and Chicago. The fabulous work is pro-bono, which means more money goes straight to UNICEF water programs!