BANGKOK — Burma’s military regime, already under fire for refusing to allow a fulldisaster relief operation into the country, is moving large numbers of cycloneand flood victims from a major city hit by Tropical Cyclone Nargis last week.
“Now they will send all of the people in the refugee camps in Bogalay...toWah-keh-ma, and Myaung Mya, and so on,” a local man resident in Bogalay said.
“Those who are willing to come can come along. If they don’t come along, theycan no longer stay in Bogalay. They are being asked to return to theirvillages."
The man, who asked not to be named, said the military was now transportingpeople around the devastated Irrawaddy deltaregion en masse. The purpose of their movements was unclear.
A volunteer working in Bogalay shelters earlier said that all those shelteringin monasteries and public buildings in Bogalay had until May 14 to leave thecity, where an estimated 8,000 people took refuge after their villages weredestroyed.
Most Bogalay refugees are believed to be sheltering in the city’s 54 Buddhistmonasteries, as well as in the No. 1 and No. 2 State High Schools. But startingMay 7, soldiers had been moving them out to Ma-u-bin and other towns including MyaungMya, sources said.
“They’ve been sent back continuously by the soldiers or by ships. Currently,the ships that run between Bogalay and Rangoonare now just transporting these people,” the Bogalay man said.
Victims sent to island
So far, more than 300storm victims have been placed without food or other assistance in a refugeecomp on Mein-ma-hla Island, despite abuild-up of privately donated rescue aid and food supplies in warehouses andChinese temples in the city, Burmese sources said.
Some zinc sheets for roofing repairs were distributed to local people, but theyhave had to pay for them.
And private individuals wishing to donate to storm victims in Bogalay have beensubjected to registration procedures and videotaping before being told theymust hand over the goods to the authorities for distribution.
“People have to go to the organization for refugees, legally opened at theMother Child Care Association in Bogalay, get themselves videotaped and getregistered, and that’s it. These actions are not really effective,” the Bogalayman said.
He said civic associations such as the Hinthada Township Association and areligious group from Zalun Pyidawbyan had tried to help people but wereseverely hampered by these bureaucratic restrictions.
Aid - for political support
Until now, themajority of Burmese interviewed on the ground in the Irrawaddydelta say there has been no sign of international food donations, and privatedonations are all that is keeping them alive.
Aid workers and overseas officials, keen to win the junta around tofull cooperation with an emergency humanitarian relief effort, have sofar played down reports of misdirected donations, saying the reportsare sporadic and unconfirmed.
Burma’ssecretive regime has welcomed donations of supplies from abroad but refused toallow in most foreign experts needed to oversee the complicated reliefoperation.
At least 71,000 peopleare thought to have been killed in the storm, with the number expected to risesharply in the absence of a reliable corridor for the delivery of humanitarianrelief. Two million people are said to be in desperate need of emergency aid.
The man added that when teachers from Than Lyin asked the authorities to helpthem with roof repairs, they were told they could have rice and otherassistance in return for “yes” votes in a national referendum, from teachers,students, and their entire extended families.
Claims that relief materials were being traded for political support were alsoechoed in Rangoon.
“My older sisters have to stay at their schools,” the Rangoon woman said. “The education directorshave told them that they’d have to vote yes. They said they’d have to vote yes,and they’d know if they had not. They had all the lists,” she said.
“All the staff members had to be on their side.”
While Rangoon residentssaid some areas were beginning to see some sign of assistance, with rescuegroups making inroads into stricken suburbs of the city, such as Hlaing Thaya, they added that it was extremely limited.
Private donors help
"Even in Rangoon,there are so many places without help. Even in Hlaing Thaya, they haven’treached the entire area,” one woman said. “In Hlaing Thaya, there are threerescue groups. Only one place is getting a lot of help."
She said foreign-made foodstuffs like convenience noodles were now appearing inshops at commercial prices.
"Dried noodles are sold in Nyaung-bin-lay Market. There are piles of them. Iheard in Nyaung-bin-lay Market, they are selling candles, dried noodles,blankets, and pillows,” she said, confirming earlier sightings of foreign-madefoods there.
Private donors were stepping in to try to fill the gap between supplies desperately needed for survival day-to-day living and building repair, according to a number of witnesses.
"There are many more people donating [privately] now than before," a woman in Laputta township, in the hardest-hit Irrawaddy delta said.
" They are donating a lot. But these things are not from [the authorities]," she said.
And a man resident in Bogalay said the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) was selling rainproof canvas to cyclone victims desperate to get out of continual downpours.
"The USDA is going around and selling the materials in Chinese shops in Chinatown for 200,000 kyat per bolt," he said. "There are more 100 bolts altogether...This canvas cloth is not among the things we usually use in Bogalay. It's really obvious that these are donations from foreign countries," he said.
Aid - at a price
The Rangoon woman said officials had come around the residential areas, or wards, announcing that they would soon be distributing zinc sheets [for roofing repairs], rice, and oil. But the sixth ward hasn’t got any oil or rice yet…Theyjust said they would."
She said candles were currently selling in Rangoon, where many homes are still without electricity, for 1,500 kyat a packet, and zinc sheets were selling for 4,900 kyat a sheet.
“A lot of people have re-done the roofing. Water gets into the top floor, andpeople there cannot live there. Also, it’s been raining,” the Rangoon woman said, adding that even nails tokeep the zinc in place were now costly and scarce.
In South Dagon township on the outskirts of Rangoon, one resident said zinc sheeting could only be had if an application form was first submitted to the local neighborhood office.
"Those who apply get five sheets of zinc per household. Five 7-foot zinc sheets. They are selling each sheet for 4,900. They're not giving them out for free," a Rangoon man said, adding that the zinc was believed to have come from private corporate donors in the first place.
"Some people who have no money cannot buy these things. They're not given out free. Also, with oil, you have to queue up and pay 250 kyat," he added.
Meanwhile, a Rangoon youth said he had spotted foreign aid materials being sold commercially in several outlets in the city.
"In Chinatown, Iron Market, in Lanmadaw, Theingyi Market," he said. "There are mosquito nets and food. All of them are aid materials."
Original reporting by RFA’s Burmeseservice. Director: Nancy Shwe. Translated by Than Than Win. Written for the Webin English by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.