Over 90% of cyclone-hit schools, healthcare facilities repaired in Arakan State: junta spox

By Admin 22 Aug 2023

DMG Newsroom
22 August 2023, Sittwe

More than 90 percent of cyclone-hit schools and healthcare facilities have been repaired in Arakan State, junta spokesman Major-General Zaw Min Tun told a press conference on Tuesday.

Ninety-five percent of basic education schools and higher education facilities, and 94 percent of healthcare facilities have been repaired, said the junta spokesman.

“A new academic year started shortly after the storm, and all the basic education schools could be opened [in Arakan State], and 95 percent of basic education schools and higher education facilities have been repaired so far,” said the spokesman.

Together with health workers of the public health care system, military medical professionals provided healthcare services for local people in the aftermath of the storm, he claimed.

Despite the junta’s claims, local people said many schools have yet to be repaired in storm-hit parts of Arakan State.

Daw Khin Khin Thein from Thae Khon village in Pauktaw Township said: “There are two school buildings and one was completely destroyed. It is yet to be rebuilt. The government [the regime] does not rebuild it. We villagers still can’t even rebuild our houses. So, children attend classes in shifts.”

Many buildings including schools and healthcare facilities were damaged or destroyed by Cyclone Mocha, which hit Arakan State on May 14. More than 1.5 million people were affected by the storm.

Telecommunications have been completely restored in storm-hit areas, claimed the junta spokesman.

Electricity supply has also resumed in urban areas across Arakan State’s 17 townships, and the regime is working to restore electricity in rural areas in Sittwe, Ponnagyun, Rathedaung, Pauktaw and Kyauktaw townships, he said.

Volunteers who spoke to DMG said they were relatively satisfied with the junta’s efforts to restore electricity in Arakan State, but that regime has provided little in the way of relief supplies for storm victims.

“In Kyauktaw, some 99 percent of households had to rebuild their houses by themselves. They have used tarpaulin sheets to roof their houses. We receive no relief supplies, and people are struggling to revive their businesses,” said volunteer Ko Nyi Pu from Kyauktaw.

Cyclone victims still badly need relief supplies, medicines and roofing sheets, and hope to receive international assistance.