Two months after Cyclone Nargis, condition of survivors still 'critical'

Mungpi & Solomon
Mizzima News - 03 July 2008

New Delhi - Two months after the killer Cyclone Nargis lashed Burma, thousands of survivors said they still lack basic assistance including food, farming equipments and shelter.

"We received only one time support from the Red Cross. They gave us 24 tins (measured in condensed milk tins) of rice for our family," said a farmer with five family members from Paungthe village of Bogale township in Irrawaddy delta.

The farmer said while he did not know how much rice other families received as aid, it was the only help the whole village had seen.

"There are more then 1300 people in our village," the farmer added.

Talking to Mizzima over telephone, the farmer said, he had come to Bogale Town, about 40 miles from his village, with the expectation of help from local as well as international aid groups.

World Vision, a Christian non-governmental organization that has been helping cyclone survivors, however, said humanitarian assistance is getting through to a lot survivors but difficulties remain in assessing how widespread the needs are and how many people are getting aid.

"It's still quite a critical situation but a lot of people are getting the aid that they need," Ashley Clements, spokesperson of World Vision in Burma told Mizzima.

While the immediate need for the farmer and members of his village remain basic food, with the rainy season fast approaching, the farmer said he is also burdened with the fear of missing the cultivation season, which would mean greater disaster ahead.

"I am hoping to find some help from the government in terms of farming equipments as well as some cattle," said the farmer, adding that while there were no human casualties caused by the cyclone in their village, most of the cattle were dead.

"I lost all my buffaloes and cows, which I need to plough the fields before it's too late," said the farmer, who has over 15 acres of farm land.

"If I get some buffaloes, I can still race and finish planting rice within 15 days before the rains start," said the farmer, adding that the plantation period will be over by mid-July.

The World Vision said most farmers in the cyclone hit areas will miss this farming season as a result of lack of equipments to work in the fields.

"I think there is going to be a large number of farmers unable to farm their land this growing season," Clements said.

"So, we need to look at the coming months to support the farmers in finding a way to make a living," Clement added.

The farmer in Paungthe village is not alone in seeking help. An aid worker in Bogale said several survivors from other villages in the Township have often come to town in search of help.

Bogale, one of the worst hit towns in the Irrawaddy delta, where several aid groups are now based, has become a hub for desperate survivors searching for help.

The aid worker, who helped the farmer talk to Mizzima, said, "Yesterday around 30 people came to us asking for food but today another 700 people from more than 30 villages came here.

He said it was more than what he and his group could afford to provide in terms of food and other assistance, as his group is dependent on local and national donors to help cyclone victims.

"We know that there are several villages that have not been accessed but we are helpless," the aid worker said.

Meanwhile in Laputta, another badly-hit town in the Irrawaddy delta, several thousand survivors, who are temporarily staying in make-shift camps, are faced with a renewed threat as the local authority has urged them to shift from their temporary homes.

Dr. Aye Kyu, a physician in Laputta Township who has been helping survivors, said at least 10,000 survivors are living in four camps near Laputta town. And as most of the refugees have no land of their own, it has become problematic for survivors to go back to their original villages.

"They are telling me they will not go back, they will try to continue surviving here by themselves," Aye Kyu said.

According to a local resident of Laputta, who met the survivors, the police have threatened them that no more food would be supplied to them unless they move from the area.

"Two survivors told me that divisional police officers told them to go back to their villages or else they will be forcibly evicted," the local resident said.

Aye Kyu said, the survivors have no homes, face severe problems of food shortage and fear of an impending disaster ahead.