Four boats carrying dozens of Burmese cyclone refugees sent back to theirvillages by the authorities have sunk in a storm on the Irrawaddyriver, according to Burmese sources.
Video: AFP
The four boats were transporting several dozen cyclone refugees back totheir devastated villages in the Irrawaddy delta from Bogalay township, wherethey had sought aid and shelter, on May 19, sources in Burma said.
When a new storm struck, one ship went down near Byonehmwe island andanother near Kaingdawa village, although whether anyone was rescued wasunknown, the sources said. Two other boats sank near Kantayar port before leavingBogalay, and the passengers escaped.
Two Red Cross workers were on the ship that sank near Byonehmwe island, onerelief worker said, although she didn’t know whether they were local or foreignstaff. No comment was available from International Committee of the Red Cross officials.
All passengers had fled their villages in the hardest-hit areas ofthe Irrawaddy delta and traveled to Bogalay insearch of food, shelter, and water. They had been sheltering mainly inmonasteries and schools, the relief worker said.
The authorities had given each family 20,000 kyat (about U.S. $20) in cashand eight pyi (about 16 kilos) of rice and told them to return home, the source said,possibly so they would be able to vote in a national referendum on a newconstitution on May 24.
Voting went ahead in most of Burma last week despite an international outcryagainst the referendum and massive cyclone damage nationwide, but residents ofthe hardest hit areas had their vote delayed until this week.
“There are still a lot of victims in Bogalay. What they need most ismaterial for tents, rice, salt, and clothing,” the relief worker said. “No effective aid hasarrived there yet, except some from individual private donors.”
Streets closed
Local officials told refugees and residents that junta leader Than Shwe and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon were to visit the area, according to a Bogalay resident. “Within two or three hours, there was an order to put all of those who were in the state high school and monasteries on trucks and return them to their villages. They were put on army trucks and sent to the pier,” the resident said.
“The victims had with them rice and money—the money wasn't much, very little money—and their clothing…Nobody could remain behind…”
The resident said the authorities warned the refugees against discussing the incident or returning to Bogalay.
Ahead of the visit, roads were closed, bicycles, motorcycles, and trishaws were banned, and aid packages distributed to several dozen homes with a warning that they would be retrieved after the high-level visit concluded, he said.
“Their coming here is causing more trouble for people in Bogalay like us,” he said.
Posters in Rangoon
Separately, in the former capital, Rangoon’sKawhmu division, authorities cracked down May 18 on residents who lined up inthe streets when private donors headed to distribute aid in Kungyangon.
“The local authorities said it was a disgrace for them to come out and beglike this, and the people said they were begging because they were starving,”one Rangoonwoman said.
The authorities took 80 people into custody and sent some 200 to a localmonastery for aid, whose abbot said he didn’t have enough food for them, thewoman said. When he called authorities to complain, they came and sent thegroup to shelter at a school, which also had no food for them.
Local authorities in Rangoonhave now used loudspeakers to warn all residents against going out in search ofaid and have distributed posters saying that begging for aid is disgraceful, thewoman said.
The Burmese official media say about 78,000 people were killed by CycloneNargis, which struck on May 2, and that an estimated 56,000 remain unaccountedfor. U.N. officials say some 2.4 million people are severely affected and atrisk.
The junta has drawn sharp international criticism for refusing to allowinternational aid and aid workers into the country, but there are signs thatposition is easing. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday that Burma wasallowing nine World Food Programme helicopters to bring aid to more remoteareas.
Original reporting by Maung Maung Nyo and Nay Linn for RFA’s Burmese service. Service director: NancyShwe. Executive producer: Susan Lavery. Written and produced in English bySarah Jackson-Han.