Hundreds of people have become homeless after a fire broke out on 4 March in northwestern Kyauktaw Township in Burma's Arakan State. "200 houses were burnt and 904 people, including women and children, have become homeless ...
Hundreds of people have become homeless after a fire broke out on 4 March in northwestern Kyauktaw Township in Burma's Arakan State.
"200 houses were burnt and 904 people, including women and children, have become homeless after a fire broke out in Taung Htaung Har Village three miles from Kyauktaw. The victims are now taking shelter in the schools and other places nearby the village," reported the villager.
The fire started in one house's kitchen and caught from one house to the next because the structures were all built of wood and bamboo, but no one was killed in the blaze, the villager reported.
The fire is reportedly the second one in Kyauktaw in the past week.
Sox government warehouses, including one storing army rations, were gutted in a fire in downtown Kyauktaw on 2 March.
According to the town residents, the warehouses were suspected to have been torched by some official or miscreant because the fire broke out as the government was preparing to auction them off to private bidders.
Fires in Arakan State often result in severe losses because the fire services in the state are poorly equipped and are never ready for fighting fires when they occur, said residents.
