Dr Thant Zin has expressed his sadness at the horrific situation he witnessed in cyclone-affected Burma during his three-week visit.

Dr Zin has described his visit and experience of the aftermath of the cyclone as sad but productive.

He travelled to Burma to assist with needs assessment in the Irrawaddy Delta Region, which was affected by Cyclone Nargis early last month.

Dr Zin is the only Australian Burmese doctor to have gained access to Burma to help in the aftermath of the cyclone.

He travelled with mostly local Non-governmental Organis-ations (NGOs) to the far-most villages around the Delta Region to assess the damage and amount of assistance needed.

“We did needs assessment and decided where the funds should go,” he said.

Dr Zin said the local NGOs were the best to travel with as they had more success accessing areas of Burma, compared to the international NGOs, who faced many restrictions due to the Burmese Government's paranoia towards western foreigners.

Dr Zin has described the travel as extremely risky because of the geographical nature of the Delta region, having to travel by car, and then boat and canoe through wide, fast-flowing tributaries and then into smaller tributaries and rivers to reach villages.

Upon reaching the banks of the river, they had to wade through knee-deep mud to reach the large crowds of people waiting on the banks.

On arrival, Dr Zin and members of the NGOs first visited the Buddhist monastery to get information about the region and the situation. The Buddhist monasteries had provided a place of shelter for many villagers, who had flocked there for help. Dr Zin recounted a tragic story where a monastery wall collapsed and crushed many children.

Dr Zin said they were told many amazing and tragic stories by survivors.

“Everywhere we went, we broke into tears after hearing stories”, he said.

One astounding story Dr Zin was told was a situation where villagers were washed into rivers and were drowning and, in desperation, grabbed hold of objects in the water. In one report, a crocodile was accidentally seized and, in another, an enormous Burmese python was grabbed by some villagers by mistake, who were saved as the python dragged itself, as well as the people, out of the water onto the bank.