Volunteers Turn to Task of Collecting Bodies

Nearly three weeks after Cyclone Nargis struck the Irrawaddy delta on the night of May 2-3, volunteers have finally begun to turn their attention to the daunting task of pulling bodies from rivers and fields.

With most relief efforts directed towards saving the survivors of the cyclone, it may fall to the Rangoon-based Free Funeral Services Society (FFSS), a non-profit organization, to coordinate efforts to deal with some of the more than 100,000 left dead in the wake of Nargis.

Kyaw Thu, head of the FFSS, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that the group had received requests from Kansu village, in Bogalay Township, for help with removing the bodies that are scattered throughout the area.

An acclaimed actor and social activist, Kyaw Thu was jailed by Burma’s ruling junta for a month last year after joining monk-led protests in September.

Members of the FFSS have so far concentrated their efforts on helping survivors of the cyclone, as part of a far-reaching drive by ordinary Burmese to help their compatriots through the aftermath of one of the biggest natural disasters to hit the country in recent history.

But after weeks of directing their energies towards the living, the group has been asked to clean up the dead.

“It has become an essential task, because the bodies have been there for a very long time now,” said Kyaw Thu, adding that efforts would be hampered by a lack of manpower and machinery to pull bodies from the floodwaters.

He also added that, due to cyclone damage to a crematorium run by a local chapter of the FFSS, the group would be unable to cremate the dead.

“The government will be responsible for cremating the dead in accordance with Burmese tradition,” he said.

Local people from Bogalay Township said that so far, no bodies have been removed from the rivers of the delta area by local or international non-governmental organizations.

“It’s tragic to see the bodies,” said a doctor from one relief organization. “We are Burmese, and we have to work together to deal with this tragic situation.”

Meanwhile, sources in the Irrawaddy delta area said that local members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association, a junta-backed social organization, have been seen throwing bodies into floodwaters in an effort to dispose of them.

Hundreds of thousands of homes, farms and businesses were destroyed by Cyclone Nargis, which affected 2.5 million people across the delta, leaving many without food and shelter.