7,000 Laputta Refugees Told to Return Home

By SAW YAN NAING
The Irrawaddy News

At least 7,000 cyclone survivors sheltering in three temporary camps in Laputta town, in the Irrawaddy delta, are under renewed pressure from the local authorities to return home, according to sources there.

About 10,000 refugees are still living in Laputta’s five refugee camps, supported by local authorities and nongovernmental organizations.

The 7,000 now urged to return to their home villages have been warned that unless they leave the camps they can expect no aid next month, said one local source, Aye Kyu.

Those who agree to go home will be provided with enough rice, oil and beans to last 10 days and will participate in a draw for the houses now being built in the devastated villages, Aye Kyu said.

The supplies are insufficient, however, according to Aye Win, a spokesman for the UN Information Center in Rangoon.

The state-owned daily New Light of Myanmar reported on Tuesday that the government planned to build 4,000 houses for cyclone victims in the Irrawaddy delta and Rangoon Division.

About 18 private companies and bankers would be involved in the construction of the homes, the paper said.

Despite the inducements to take up residence again in their devastated villages, about 400 cyclone survivors who were forced to go home returned to Laputta last month and are now living in local monasteries, sources reported.

Thousands of residents of more than 30 villages in Bogalay Township were told by the Department of Forestry last month to relocate because they were said to be living on national park land.