Asohn Vi / Kaowao
June 19 , 2008
The dilemmas facing survivors of Cyclone Nargis living in the Irrawaddy Delta grow everyday with meaningless restrictions now prohibiting the movement of people away from the affected areas and into southern Burma. These people are fleeing in search of jobs and better living conditions in an effort to improve their near-destroyed lives and flee the places they used to call home but that can no longer sustain them.
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Over 134,000 people were killed and around 2.4 million people have been severely affected by Cyclone Nargis which struck Burma on May 2nd. International aid agencies have estimated that of those severely affected 90% of are women and children.
The Junta's Home Affairs Department on June 12th issued orders for an increase in guards at the Sittaung Bridge to check all IDs and stop potential Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from moving away from Irrawaddy Division and return them to their destroyed homes. Sittaung Bridge is the only way to move from Irrawaddy Division to Southern Burma and is situated over 100 miles from Rangoon, the former capital of Burma. This new bridge checkpoint stops all travelers to Mon and Karen states and was set up just a few days ago following a directive from the authorities to local policemen and army soldiers in the area.
With the lack of jobs in Irrawaddy Delta, Kyaw Naing was attempting to find a better life with his family when he was stopped and checked at the Sittaung checkpoint, and subsequently returned to Pegu by the authorities. On the way however he was able to sneak away and managed to reach Southern Burma where he contacted Kaowao. His journey revealed the appalling treatment of ordinary civilians who have already undergone massive loss and tragedy in recent weeks. Kyaw Naing was unable to understand why the authorities arrested him and treated him like a thief or common criminal when his only 'crime' was attempting to remove himself from a situation where w\he was fast becoming one of the many living dead in the Delta region.
"I am wondering why the authorities prevent us. I just tried to move to gain some sustenance for myself. We didn't break the law and we're not thieves, although they treat us as though we are," said a 22 year-old man told with sadness etched all over his face. Kyaw Naing and six other relatives came from a village in Pyapon township, one of the areas in the Irrawaddy Delta strongest hit by the cyclone. After one night imprisoned at the Sittaung checkpoint they were moved to Pegu for transportation back to their village.
"But now I feel I shouldn't be afraid of them (the authorities) because this is also my country," said Kyaw Naing on June 15th as he arrived alone to Mudon Township, 18 miles from the capital of Mon state.
There are clear steps being taken now that seem set to kill survivors of Nargis, according to a Mae Sot-based aid group. "The military junta shouldn't prevent survivors on the way without helping because this is their own right in their country. The junta must take full responsibility for helping the victims," said Nai Okkar Mon, secretary of the Mon National League for Consolidating and Aiding based in Mae Sot, Thailand. He went on to say that some survivors fled to the closest border town after six weeks without aid which is not surprising given the junta's continued refusal of access for and contributions from international aid agencies, alongside their continued prevention of basic materials from reaching millions of victims who have been fatally affected by the disaster.
In recent days the Junta has been offering 10,000 Kyat to villagers in an effort to clear out the IDP camps and demonstrate to the world the success of their alleged clean up. The amount of 10,000 Kyat is equivalent to enough money for rice for an average family for two days. Villagers who don't accept the money for fear of returning home are forced to return to their destroyed homes anyway, although the Junta claims their return is voluntary.
Six weeks after the disaster most destroyed villagers remain the way they were shortly after the disaster, the stench of decay is strong as bodies lie strewn across fields and homes sit destroyed.
An assessment issued by the US Department of Agriculture last week said, "Farmers (in cyclone-affected areas of Burma) are yet to be supplied with sufficient food, viable seed, tools, livestock or replacement tillers and fuel," and the area affected by the cyclone, "normally accounts for roughly 60 percent of Burma's rice production." The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said some 52,000 farmers in Burma's storm-hit Irrawaddy delta will not be able to grow a 2008 rainy season rice crop unless they are supplied with farming equipment and seeds within the next two months.
The mistreatment of travelers is not confined to those moving away from Nargis-affected regions; on the way by train to southern Burma, northerners were subjected to many kinds of intimidation by the armed train-guards but were nonetheless allowed to travel provided they were able to pay bribes as requested. According to Kyaw Naing's brother Min Min, who arrived at a rubber plantation in Mudon on June 10th after a 350 Mile journey across Mon State, "Policemen checked our group and called us to their chief who asked us rhetorically, 'Are you all going ahead to the border town or to Thailand?', Just like that. We smugly showed our approval for temporarily staying in the border town, and he fined us 600 Kyat per person."
Many people left from the biggest area of rice production, Irrawaddy Delta, after Cyclone Nargis washed out the region. Many have fled, or attempted to flee, to southern Burma and border towns with these areas their only hope of liberation from starvation. "We can't plant the paddy there, and we do not have money for food during the plantation. It is not possible to start again without long-term supporters in there because we have lost all our resources.
I know that there is a much better life here than in the Irrawaddy delta," Min Min told Kaowao's correspondent. There are more than 40 job seekers including women and children around Min's work field and all would like work in Thailand if possible.
Given the harsh plight and precarious conditions after Cyclone Nargis, the number of illegal migrants may rise in Thailand, with many human traffickers from border towns ready for an influx, commented a Human Right Group in exile. Of all foreign illegal migrant workers in Thailand 75 percent are from Burma and the rest from Lao and Cambodia. Most work in the so-called '4D jobs', meaning Dirty, Demanding, Degrading and Dangerous with uncertain and low wages, poor conditions and no time off.
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