The dilemmas of survivors of Cyclone Nargis in the Irrawaddy Delta seem to grow everyday, even as meaningless restrictions prohibiting the movement of people from the cyclone-hit areas into Southern Burma are enforced daily. These people are escaping in search of jobs and better living conditions, in an effort to improve their lives and flee from their cyclone ravaged villages
Over 1,34,000 people were killed and around 2.4 million people have been rendered homeless by Cyclone Nargis, which lashed Burma on May 2. International aid agencies have estimated that of those severely affected 90 per cent were women and children.
On June 12, the Junta's Home Affairs Department issued orders for an increase in the number of guards on the Sittaung Bridge to check all IDs and stop potential Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from moving away from the Irrawaddy Division. Sittaung Bridge is the only way to travel from Irrawaddy Division to Southern Burma and is situated at a distance of 100 miles from Rangoon, the former capital of Burma. This new checkpoint stops all travellers to Mon and Karen states and has been set up just a few days ago, following a directive from the authorities to local policemen and army soldiers in the area.
Given the lack of jobs in Irrawaddy Delta, Kyaw Naing was attempting to seek a better life with his family, when he was stopped and checked at the Sittaung checkpoint and subsequently ordered to return to Pegu by the authorities. On the way, however, he was able to sneak away and managed to reach Southern Burma, where he contacted our correspondent. His story revealed the appalling treatment meted out to ordinary civilians, who have already suffered loss and tragedy in the past few weeks. Kyaw Naing was unable to understand why the authorities arrested him and treated him like a thief or criminal when his only 'crime' was attempting to escape from the cyclone-hit Delta region.
"I am wondering why the authorities were preventing us. I just tried to move to another region to gain some sustenance for myself. We did not break the law and we are not thieves, although they treated us as though we were," a 22 year-old man said. Kyaw Naing and six other relatives came from a village in Pyapon Township, one of the areas in the Irrawaddy Delta worst hit by the cyclone. After being imprisoned for one night at the Sittaung checkpoint they were moved to Pegu and ordered to go back to their village.
"But now I feel I should not be afraid of them (the authorities) because this is also my country," said Kyaw Naing on June 15 as he reached Mudon Township alone, which is 18 miles from the capital of Mon state.
There are clear steps being taken now that seem aimed at killing the survivors of Cyclone Nargis, according to a Mae Sot-based aid group. "The military junta should not prevent survivors from re-locating because this is their own country. The junta must take full responsibility of 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 had fled to the closest border town after six weeks without aid, which is not surprising given the junta's continuous refusal of access to international aid agencies, alongside their continuous prevention of basic materials from reaching millions of cyclone victims.
Recently, the Junta has been offering Kyat 10,000 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 did not accept the money for fear of returning home are being forced to return to their destroyed homes, although the Junta claims their return is voluntary. Six weeks after the disaster most destroyed villages remain the way they were shortly after the disaster, the stench of decay is strong as bodies lie strewn across fields.
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 cyclone-hit Irrawaddy delta would not be able to grow a 2008 rainy season rice crop, unless they were supplied with farming equipment and seeds within the next two months.
The ill-treatment meted out to travellers is not confined to those moving away from cyclone-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 asked. According to Kyaw Naing's brother Min Min, who arrived at a rubber plantation in Mudon on June 10 after a 350 mile journey across Mon State, "Policemen checked our group and took us to their Chief who asked us rhetorically, 'Are you all going ahead to the border town or to Thailand?' We showed our approval for temporarily staying in the border town and he fined us 600 Kyat per person."
Many people left from the Irrawaddy Delta after Cyclone Nargis washed out the region. Many have fled to southern Burma and border towns with these areas being their only hope of liberation from starvation. "We cannot plant paddy there and we do not have money for food during the plantation. It is not possible to start again without long-term support 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 of them would like to 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 refugees 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 of them work in the so-called '4D jobs', meaning Dirty, Demanding, Degrading and Dangerous with uncertain and low wages, poor conditions and no time off.
