Cyclone Giri leaves its mark on Burma

On Sunday 7 November the world's media turned to Burma when the first elections in 20 years took place, yet the devastating effects of the cyclone that hit the country at the end of October have gone largely unreported Photograph: Save the Children

Children take refuge in a monastery, Lun Lone Pite, in Burma's eastern Myebon region. Save the Children has warned that children's lives are at risk as the relief funds to help the survivors of cyclone Giri remain inadequate Photograph: Save the Children

A cyclone shelter built in 1968 was damaged during cyclone Giri in Lun Lone Pite. Scores of remote villages were completely destroyed, and homes were swept away. The damage done to the infrastructure and people’s livelihoods has emerged as being far worse then initially believed. According to Tearfund, rural food producing areas have taken the full force of the cyclone, just a month ahead of the harvest Photograph: Save the Children

Andrew Kirkwood, Save the Children's country director in Burma, said: "Our teams on the ground are reporting that whole islands have been destroyed. Schools, homes and in some cases entire villages were swept away. Save the Children has launched an appeal for $9.2m but funding has been very slow in arriving." Photograph: Save the Children

Emergency shelters in Myebon township Photograph: Save the Children

Families have lost their homes, possessions and rice harvests, which they were depending on for food and to earn a living. Clean drinking water supplies have been disrupted Photograph: Save the Children

Hla Aye Kyi, 36, a mother of five young children, told Save the Children staff: "This cyclone took our entire house, everything inside the house, the boat and all of our fishing equipment. We don't even have anything left to feed our children." Photograph: Save the Children

Daw Thin Thin, 28, holds her daughter, Thajyan Htay, aged 17 months, who has a fever. Around 92,000 children die every year in Burma from preventable and treatable diseases such as pneumonia and malnutrition - that's about 10 an hour Photograph: Save the Children

Burma receives one of the lowest rates of aid of any country in the world and almost no aid has been allocated for the communities devastated by cyclone Giri Photograph: Save the Children