Travel restrictions continue to limit delivery of humanitarian aid to cyclone victims in Arakan: ICRC

By Admin 20 Oct 2023

DMG Newsroom
20 October 2023, Sittwe
 
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says the delivery of humanitarian aid to Arakan State, particularly rural areas, remains challenging due to travel restrictions.
 
Despite the difficulties in reaching rural communities, it is doing its best to continue providing vital aid to those in need, the ICRC said in a statement on Thursday.
 
“ICRC can only reach vulnerable people when humanitarian access is granted, respected and facilitated by all,” says the statement.
 
Remote areas in Arakan State still need humanitarian assistance in the aftermath of Cyclone Mocha. While the regime has provided little assistance for storm victims, its travel restrictions have effectively barred international and local aid agencies from providing humanitarian supplies to storm-hit areas.
 
“We barely receive any assistance. International organisations can’t come, and the government [military regime] does not allow them to come. So, we can only wait to starve. Our farms were destroyed, and we can’t make a living,” said a resident of Taw Chaung Pyar Village in Ponnagyun Township.
 
Taw Chaung Pyar locals primarily earn a living by farming and cutting firewood. Cyclone Mocha, which hit Arakan State on May 14, destroyed the croplands of many.
 
In Rathedaung Township, which was hit hardest by the storm, many people still do not have shelter more than five months after the storm made landfall.
 
“There are people who still can’t rebuild their houses. They still have to use tarpaulin sheets [as temporary roofing],” said U Tun Myint from Zedipyin Village in Rathedaung Township.
 
In villages far from Mrauk-U town, residents are still struggling to rehabilitate. Villagers in Letthanchay Village said they only received some food supplies from the regime, and did not receive any building materials for reconstruction of their damaged houses.
 
“We only received 10 to 20 cans of rice per household provided by the government [regime] for houses whose roofs were damaged. We got nothing else. We still can’t repair our house. We need help,” said Daw Oo Kyawt Than from Letthanchay Village.
 
More than 1.1 million people were affected by Cyclone Mocha in Arakan State.
 
A junta-appointed Arakan State minister told a meeting last month that the emergency response period declared in Arakan State in the aftermath of the storm had ended, and that the state government would focus on agriculture and livestock farming for long-term rehabilitation.