“We will build shelters at Wan Wiang quarter, Ward (5) at the former Mong Kao bus station. We will build them in barracks form but they have to use toilets and kitchens together. We estimated that we would aid 70 households. Some of them will be living with their relatives. For them we supported the construction of huts. The committee has already built 4 huts for the rest and those huts include kitchens and toilets. The cost for one hut is about 400,000 kyat ($450),” an aid worker for refugees, Sai Kher told SHAN.

The displaced persons at Aung Mangala (Mingala in Burmese, but Mangala in Pali) monastery are only about 300 out of more than 2,000. Others didn’t return to their village, they just moved to their relatives to live in the nearby towns, Sai Kher continued.

“We will use the funds raised by us and from Chiang Mai together and keep helping the IDPs. And then we will keep raising fund too, because there are still many blanks we haven’t filled yet.”

It is reported that the aiding committee has planned to build the barracks at Mong Kao old bus station. During this week, they clear bushes and trim the ground. And on the other hand, they have ordered bamboos and zinc sheets.

In the last week of April, a convoy of Burma military trucks fully loaded with soldiers and heavy weapons arrived to reinforce their troops in Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA) controlled areas, especially at Loi Zay which is located near the Salween River bank. SSPP/SSA is also reinforcing its troops to be ready for defense. At present, the number of troops from both sides is not less than 5,000 and the tension between them keeps growing. Therefore, the displaced people in Tangyan can’t go back to their villages yet, according to locals from Tangyan