Pyapon: One month after the cyclone

By AUNG THET WINE / PYAPON
Relief Web

One month after Cyclone Nargis, survivors in many villages of Pyapon Township have yet to receive adequate aid and assistance for reconstruction of their homes and livelihoods from either local authorities or international agencies.

Situated on an inlet in the Irrawaddy delta, 75 kilometers (47 miles) southwest of Rangoon and 30 kilometers (19 miles) east of Bogalay, Pyapon was directly in the line of the cyclone on May 2-3.

Up to 100 villages in Pyapon Township were hit, including Auk Kwin, San Pya, Kani, Phone Kyi Thaung, Pho Shan Gyi, Ka Byet, Nyi Naung, Thakya Hin-Oh, Ma Kyi Kan, Kyone Damin and Kan Seik.

An estimated 10,000 people were killed in the disaster and an unknown number are missing, according to an official at the Pyapon Township Red Cross Association.

The main livelihoods of the region—agriculture, fish farms, fishing and salt flats—were all but decimated.

In the days after the devastation of Cyclone Nargis, survivors gathered in 10 makeshift refugee camps in Pyapon, at the local football ground, in schools, monasteries and in surrounding pagodas.

However, the military authorities began closing down these facilities on May 23, forcing the refugees to return to their own villages. By the end of May, there were officially no refugee camps left in Pyapon Township, locals said.

Rural survivors who were sent back to their devastated villages generally received a small aid package each and the authorities organized a few sporadic reconstruction efforts, locals said.

"For shelter, it's not a big deal. We can cut bamboo and dani (nipa palm leaves) along the banks of the Pyapon River and use that for roofing,' the village headman of Tin Ma Lwe said. 'However, food and clothing are a big issue for us. The army came and distributed some items of food, but not enough. We had to draw lots to get a share. Private donations reached some villages, but others were left without anything.'

"Soon after the cyclone, a lot of donors came to offer assistance,' a villager from Pho Shan Gyi said. 'We got enough rice and beans to eat. But they didn't come back and now we have to survive on rice gruel. Some villagers must eat the rain-soaked rice."

Most villagers said they are unwilling to eat rain-soaked rice, since it has an unbearable smell and no taste.

Although the soldiers posted in the army camp at the Pyapon river mouth have provided some food assistance to nearby villages, it was minimal, villagers from Kani said.

"Since the cyclone, I have received just three pyi (0.75 liter) of rice from the army,' a 50-year-old housewife from Phone Kyi Thaung said.

Access to safe drinking water has always been an issue in Pyapon Township, even before the cyclone. Now, locals say, they must collect rainwater. Moreover, they said they have no cooking utensils or clothing.

"We need pots, pans and clothes,' a Kani villager said. 'We especially need sarongs and longyi, mosquito nets and blankets. Yet nobody comes to give us these things."

Meanwhile, the Hotels and Tourism Minister for Pyapon, Maj-Gen Soe Naing, arrived recently to oversee reconstruction efforts in collaboration with international agencies, local NGOs and privately contracted construction companies—namely Dagon International, Yuzana, Pyi Phyo Kyaw and Min Yazar, all of which are considered to be affiliated with the military government or owned by cronies of the junta generals.

Although Pyapon Township was not the hardest hit area on May 2-3, the survivors have not received as much assistance in emergency aid or reconstruction efforts as survivors in Laputta and Bogalay, said a young NGO worker who was volunteering in the worst affected areas.