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(CNN) -- Debt problems and lack of credit. A housing crisis and a funding shortfall. These are not the problems of the Western world in the face of the global economic downturn, but some of the lingering challenges in Myanmar one year after devastating Cyclone Nargis hit the country, aid groups said.
(CNN) -- Debt problems and lack of credit. A housing crisis and a funding shortfall. These are not the problems of the Western world in the face of the global economic downturn, but some of the lingering challenges in Myanmar one year after devastating Cyclone Nargis hit the country, aid groups said.
Farmers sift grain during the rice harvest on April 27 in the Irrawady delta village of Ma Lot Myit Than.
"Cyclone Nargis caused a level of destruction similar to the worst-hit areas of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami," said Claire Light, Oxfam's country director in Myanmar. "The 2.4 million people affected will continue to feel its impact unless aid keeps flowing for the next three years."
The storm also flooded farmland, caused the widespread deaths of farm animals, destroyed farming and fishing equipment, and damaged fish and shrimp ponds.
Farmers in the delta, a water-streaked piece of land that juts into the Bay of Bengal, follow a seasonal cycle of borrowing and repayment as they plant and harvest their crops.
When the cyclone struck, it immediately reduced the availability of affordable credit, Oxfam said.
"One of the many impacts of Cyclone Nargis was that it destroyed almost an entire harvest that farmers and fishermen had already borrowed against before the cyclone hit," said Light.
