Remember Nargis?

Cyclone Nargis, which struck Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady Delta on May 2nd and 3rd, caused more than $4 billion worth of damage reports IRIN, part of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. This puts the disaster on par with the 2004 tsunami that battered Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries.

The figure is taken from a joint assessment by the UN, Myanmar’s government, and the Association of South East Asian Nations. As the most comprehensive evaluation of the damage to date, the new report (for PDF, click here) is intended to assist in fund-raising efforts for ongoing relief and reconstruction efforts.

Relief workers, as well as UN officials, are concerned that emergency funding has been slow to arrive—and that there is simply not enough money to support the critical, life-saving work that needs be done. To date, a paltry $328 million has been donated to the relief effort.