No relief has reached the people in the Triangle Areas in Burma's northern Kachin State, hit by the second rat-induced famine over the past two months, either by any organization or the junta authorities, said local people.

The Triangle Areas are located between the Mali Hka River and N'Mai Hka River north of Kachin State and are controlled by the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO). People in these areas mainly cultivate hillside paddy.

At the moment, nearly 20,000 people from over 69 Kachin hill villages are increasingly contending with problems of shortage of food because their rice and other crop fields have been largely destroyed by rats, according to the Kachin Relief and Development Committee (KRDC) under the KIO.

A group of joint-data collectors including the KIO's health personnel and representatives of Burma's ruling junta was dispatched to the famine affected Triangle Areas five days ago, according to KIO officials in Laiza headquarters in Kachin State.

Emergency food and medical supplies will be dispatched to the people in the famine hit zones after the joint-data collectors’ return, KIO officials added.

A KRDC official told KNG, more people would die from starvation and diseases caused by malnutrition if essential food and medical aid is not delivered to the famine affected areas within two months from now.

Currently, the KIO is into discussions with junta officials and local and international NGOs for emergency and long-term relief for victims of the famine, added KRDC official.

People in the famine hit areas said, mainly rats, mice and four other insects had destroyed the paddy plants from root to bud.

The KRDC official said, the rat-caused famine is more severe in areas below the elevation from the sea level of 3000 feet rather than the areas above the elevation.

The hillside rice fields of 16 villages in Hkindawng and Dagu Lum Township in the KIO's Puta-O district, situated between Mali Hka River and Hkrang Hka River, have been totally destroyed by rats, the KIO data said.

During 1975-1981, when civil wars occurred between the KIO and Burman-led successive military governments, severe rat-caused famine hit the same areas. Hundreds of people died of starvation and many fled to different areas.

The KIO is worried that civil war will resume during the famine in the Triangle Areas following military tension brought on by the failure of negotiation on transforming the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the armed wing of KIO to the junta-proposed Border Guard Force, said KIO sources.