Keep Praying for & Giving to Burma - Survivors Forced Back
Survivors of the Burma cyclone have been forced to return to their destroyed villages because the regime has ordered relief camps to be closed down.
At the end of May – a month after the cyclone which left up an estimated 200,000 people dead – the government announced that the relief phase was over and asked everyone in the camps to return home.
In most camps the government handed out 10,000 kyat (£4.5) or two days worth of rice to those leaving. The step was taken because the government wants to show that people are going back 'voluntarily' and are able to resume normal life.
Smell of bodies
'People are being forced to go back even when their villages are uninhabitable because of the amount of debris and the smell of bodies,’ said Robin Greenwood, head of Christian Aid’s Asia and Middle East Division. ‘The monsoon rains have started which will make it even more difficult to survive. It is also difficult emotionally for those who lost relatives to go back at this time.’
On the other hand, one positive aspect to people returning to their villages is that there will be fewer land disputes. Most people do not have deeds to their land and many were worried that they might lose it if they were absent for a long period of time.
One Christian Aid partner gave an example of how people were coping with the return. In one village the community decided that the men would go back first to clear bodies and animal carcasses, leaving the women and children with relatives until the area was habitable. The community has also decided to cultivate collectively for the next year to make the most efficient use of their resources.
Complicated
With the dismantling of the camps, sending out relief supplies has become more complicated, as many villages are remote and located up to seven hours away by boat from the nearest loading site. But Christian Aid partners are still managing to provide essential supplies to 200,000 people.
Shelter continues to be one of the biggest challenges. The monsoon rains have started, but there is a lack of plastic sheeting and tarpaulin in the affected Irrawaddy Delta area, where thousands of homes were destroyed.
One Christian Aid partner reports that people are using the tarpaulin to create roofs over school buildings, rather than individual houses, so that as many families as possible can take shelter.
In need
'The communities are coming together to help each other in this time of need,' said a staff member of the partner organisation.
The monsoon means people are finding it difficult to keep food supplies dry, but the rains do at least provide clean drinking water. Christian Aid partners have distributed rain water collection and storage kits as well as food, clothing, blankets, cooking utensils and medicines.
- Christian Aid
At the end of May – a month after the cyclone which left up an estimated 200,000 people dead – the government announced that the relief phase was over and asked everyone in the camps to return home.
In most camps the government handed out 10,000 kyat (£4.5) or two days worth of rice to those leaving. The step was taken because the government wants to show that people are going back 'voluntarily' and are able to resume normal life.
Smell of bodies
'People are being forced to go back even when their villages are uninhabitable because of the amount of debris and the smell of bodies,’ said Robin Greenwood, head of Christian Aid’s Asia and Middle East Division. ‘The monsoon rains have started which will make it even more difficult to survive. It is also difficult emotionally for those who lost relatives to go back at this time.’
On the other hand, one positive aspect to people returning to their villages is that there will be fewer land disputes. Most people do not have deeds to their land and many were worried that they might lose it if they were absent for a long period of time.
One Christian Aid partner gave an example of how people were coping with the return. In one village the community decided that the men would go back first to clear bodies and animal carcasses, leaving the women and children with relatives until the area was habitable. The community has also decided to cultivate collectively for the next year to make the most efficient use of their resources.
Complicated
With the dismantling of the camps, sending out relief supplies has become more complicated, as many villages are remote and located up to seven hours away by boat from the nearest loading site. But Christian Aid partners are still managing to provide essential supplies to 200,000 people.
Shelter continues to be one of the biggest challenges. The monsoon rains have started, but there is a lack of plastic sheeting and tarpaulin in the affected Irrawaddy Delta area, where thousands of homes were destroyed.
One Christian Aid partner reports that people are using the tarpaulin to create roofs over school buildings, rather than individual houses, so that as many families as possible can take shelter.
In need
'The communities are coming together to help each other in this time of need,' said a staff member of the partner organisation.
The monsoon means people are finding it difficult to keep food supplies dry, but the rains do at least provide clean drinking water. Christian Aid partners have distributed rain water collection and storage kits as well as food, clothing, blankets, cooking utensils and medicines.
- Christian Aid
