SITUATION OVERVIEW: 1. Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar on 2 and 3 May 2008, making landfall in the Ayeyarwady Division and hitting the former capital, Yangon. Of 37 townships affected by the cyclone, 15 are considered to be ‘worst-affected?. Current estimates suggest that 2.4 million people were affected. 1.3 million people are estimated to have been reached so far by International NGOs, the Red Cross and the UN. Official figures as of 16 May state that 77,738 people have been killed and 55,917 remain missing.... 2. A Tripartite Core Group (TCG), composed of representatives of the Government of Myanmar, ASEAN and the UN, was established at the donor conference of 25 May to oversee the coordination of relief assistance. The third meeting of the group took place on 9 June, chaired by the Director General of Social Welfare.... 3. A joint relief and early recovery assessment (Post-Nargis Joint Assessment/PONJA) coordinated by the Tripartite Core Group was officially launched in Yangon on 9 June. The assessment involves humanitarian needs and damage components: a Village Tract Assessment (VTA) and a Damage and Loss Assessment (DaLA), for which field surveys in the 30 affected townships are planned between 10-19 June. (Results from the VTA are expected at the end of June and will feed into a revised Flash Appeal.) Assessment team trainings for both components took place during the past week, advance teams have been travelling to affected areas, and a pilot assessment took place over the weekend.... 4. There is a mixed picture regarding access for international staff. UN agencies report no major issues with obtaining visas for their staff, with 179 visas issued as of 9 June. National and international UN staff have been travelling to the Ayeyarwaddy delta in increasing numbers with Government approval; 86 international UN staff have visited the affected-areas as of 9 June. International NGOs are experiencing greater difficulties in entering the country; visa requests in some cases have been pending for up to three weeks. Some International NGOs report problems in accessing the affected areas, with reports of organizations being turned away at police checkpoints despite authorization and unexplained withdrawals of authorization.... 5. The Myanmar Cyclone Flash Appeal requests US$201 million for UN agencies and NGOs to meet the most urgent needs. The appeal is 41% funded as of 9 June, with firm contributions of US$82 million and a further US$51 million in uncommitted pledges. According to the OCHA Financial Tracking System (FTS) US$164 million has been committed to relief operations in Myanmar in total as of 9 June, with a further US$108 million in uncommitted pledges. For updated information on financial contributions, please visit the OCHA Financial Tracking System (FTS) website: http://reliefweb.int/fts/. Donors are encouraged to verify contributions and inform FTS of corrections and additional information at [email protected].