Cyclone Survivors Forcibly Evicted

Thousands of homeless cyclone survivors from rural areas who sought shelter and aid in Bogalay and Mawlamyinegyun have been forcibly expelled from the towns by local government officials over the last five to six days, said sources in Rangoon and Bogalay.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy by telephone, a resident in Bogalay said, “The authorities won’t allow refugees to stay in town. They are sending them back where they came from.

“Firstly, the yayaka (Ward Peace and Development Council) sent refugees who have the ability to work to Maubin town and forced them to work as laborers—digging rocks in a quarry for as little as 1,000 kyat (US 0.88 cent) per day. But some refugees wouldn’t work and ran away,” she said. 

Min Zaw, a businessman in Rangoon who visited cyclone victims in Bogalay, also said that the local authorities were urging refugees who were taking shelter on the roadsides to stay out of sight while officials and aid donors were in town. 
 
“The yayaka drove through town and announced by loudspeaker that nobody could stay in the street,” he said. “They said that if their leaders and donors saw people living in the streets, it would hurt their dignity.”  

Some refugees were detained in local police stations while others were forcibly marched out of town and left in rural areas, Min Zaw said. 

Meanwhile, members of the pro-junta group, the Union Solidarity and Development Association, asked private donors not to deliver food and supplies into the hands of the refugees, telling the donors that it would make the refugees lazy and dependent on aid, said local sources.

Volunteer donors were asked to hand aid and cash donations over to local authorities instead of delivering supplies directly to the victims, added the sources.  
 
Meanwhile, Ohn Kyaing, the spokesperson for a relief team sponsored by the opposition National League for Democracy, said that a group of refugees in Mawlamyinegyun was also forced by local authorities to return to their villages in cyclone-ravaged areas. 

On arrival in Mawlamyinegyun on May 10, he estimated that thousands of refugees were seeking shelter in Mawlamyinegyun alone.  

Ohn Kyaing said he also visited Bogalay and witnessed thousands of cyclone victims seeking shelter in monasteries and schools while many were forced to return to their devastated villages. He said he saw more than 4,500 refugees staying at nine monasteries in Bogalay.
 
Meanwhile, a total of 9,200 cyclone survivors from 84 villages in Mawlamyinegyun, who were moved to relief camps in Wakema Township in the delta, have been evicted and sent back to their native villages as part of a resettlement plan, state-run newspaper The New Light of Myanmar said on May 24. 

About 30 Burmese private companies have been involved in the reconstruction process in cyclone-affected areas in the aftermath of the disaster with assignments by the regime to organize and undertake relief and resettlement work in 17 affected townships, according to a Xinhua report. 

There are about 400 villages in Bogalay Township, according to local data. The UN said that 95 percent of Bogalay Township was destroyed by the storm on May 2-3.  

Meanwhile, residents in Bogalay said that refugees were not receiving sufficient food and shelter from the government and nongovernmental organization, said sources. However, they added that philanthropists and private donors have continued to make donations to refugees at local monasteries and schools.