Storm victims in Arakan State still need emergency assistance: AA

By Admin 15 Jul 2023

DMG Newsroom
15 July 2023, Sittwe

Two months after Cyclone Mocha made landfall over Arakan State, the majority of storm victims in the state are still in need of emergency assistance, the United League of Arakan/Arakan Army (ULA/AA) said in a statement on July 14.

There remain many challenges for storm victims on the road to recovery and the international community is urged to provide humanitarian assistance to those in need, said the Cyclone Mocha Emergency Rescue and Rehabilitation for Arakan (Cyclone Mocha ERRA).

About 75 percent of storm victims have been provided accommodation and efforts are being made to provide the remaining storm victims with shelters, Cyclone Mocha ERRA added.

“All storm victims on Mose Island have been provided with shelters, but we still need food supplies because the donors are not reaching the area. Local farmers have yet to plant paddy as they do not have paddy seeds,” said U Aye Tun Pu, manager of the Cyclone Mocha ERRCA Center 5 in Rathedaung Township.

U Htein Than Maung, the administrator of Thaungdayar Village in Rathedaung Township, said: “We have received some food items from the ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] and the junta, but we still have difficulties repairing our damaged homes. Some farmers cannot plough to grow paddy as they do not have paddy seeds.”

Making matters worse, the junta has banned local and international organisations from providing aid to those in need in the storm-ravaged areas.

“Two months after the storm, some storm-hit villages have yet to receive relief items,” said U Tun Aung Kyaw, an Arakanese politician. “Local and international organisations providing aid to the storm victims are not allowed to pass the junta’s security checkpoints. The junta’s restrictions have caused a lot of harm to the people affected by the storm. The junta should ease the restrictions on local and international relief groups.”

Cyclone Mocha, which made landfall with destructive force on May 14, damaged or destroyed about 290,000 homes and affected more than 1.5 people in Arakan State, the AA said.

Charities at home and abroad and some ethnic armed organisations including the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee (FPNCC) and the United Wa State Army (UWSA) have donated over K2 billion for storm victims in Arakan State through the AA. Shelters, food and medicine are all still needed, however, the AA said.