Displaced people (IDPs) sheltering in Karenni State urgently need more assistance as they are receiving insufficient aid from the Karenni State Interim Executive Council (IEC), the provisional Karenni State revolutionary government.
An IDP sheltering in the western part of Hpruso Township said that even though the IEC distributes rice every two to three months, the IDPs are still in urgent need of more food.
He said: “The IEC has been providing food as emergency humanitarian aid, and some donors have also stepped in to distribute food on their own. After we, the war-displaced people, informed the IEC about our severe food shortages, it began field operations to distribute rice.”
The IEC said that it has provided aid to IDPs displaced by war, floods and landslides, many of which were brought on by the tail-end of Typhoon Yagi. It formed in the South China Sea and briefly reached super typhoon status, but significantly weakened before it made landfall. On 10 September 2024, the tail-end of the typhoon crossed Myanmar, bringing heavy rains that caused severe flash floods and landslides in 54 townships, including areas in Karenni State.
On 8 November 2024, the IEC’s Department of Humanitarian Aid and Rehabilitation announced that it had provided food and shelter to 9,614 households across 155 IDP camps.
It said that it had supplied basic food and shelter to IDP camps and villages affected by floods and landslides in the townships of Pekon, Demoso, Nanmekhon, Shadaw, Hpasawng, Mese, Hpruso, and Loikaw in Karenni State.
But, despite the IEC announcement, a displaced woman sheltering at an IDP camp in Demoso Township said that the camp where she was staying had received no humanitarian aid from the IEC except for two tarpaulin sheets.
She said: “We have not received any assistance from the IEC. We sent three letters requesting help, but received no response. The IEC has done nothing for us. When we planned to build a school in our camp, we wrote to IEC twice asking for support. The only aid they provided was two 18x18-foot tarpaulin sheets. Our efforts to contact the IEC have only cost us petrol and have brought no results. We have never received any educational or food aid from the IEC.”
The IEC claims to have provided food supplies to people displaced by fighting and approximately 13,000 flood victims as well as providing assistance to those affected by landslides.
