Dozens of IDP shelters in three Arakan State townships damaged by strong winds

By Admin 03 Aug 2023

DMG Newsroom
3 August 2023, Rathedaung
 
Dozens of homes in some camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State’s Rathedaung, Ponnagyun and Kyauktaw townships have been damaged by strong winds in recent days, according to IDPs.
 
IDPs said that while thousands of shelters damaged by Cyclone Mocha in mid-May were still being repaired, about 70 were damaged again by the strong winds.
 
“We cannot yet repair our homes damaged by the cyclonic storm and we live in makeshift tents built of tarpaulin sheets. If it rains, we stay with umbrellas,” said U Maung Thein, an IDP man from the Yoetayoke displacement camp in Ponnagyun Township.
 
There are about 500 people from 69 households at the Yoetayoke IDP camp, and 31 shelters were destroyed by the strong winds, according to IDPs.
 
About 70 homes — 31 from the Yoetayoke IDP camp in Ponnagyun, 17 in the Taungminkalar IDP camp and five in the Kaviyadana IDP camp in Kyauktaw — were damaged by strong winds during a  three-day period from July 31 to August 2.
 
Three homes each from the Shwe Parami IDP camp and the Pyar Chaung Gyi IDP camp, and 13 homes from the Cedipyin IDP camp in Rathedaung, were also destroyed by the gusty weather.
 
“Three shelters were damaged by the strong winds. All the roofs of the three shelters were blown off. Currently, the damaged roofs have been ‘repaired’ with tarpaulin sheets,” said U Yan Paing Soe, manager of the Shwe Parami IDP camp in downtown Rathedaung.
 
Many displacement camps in Arakan State were ravaged by Cyclone Mocha, which made landfall near Sittwe with destructive force on May 14. 
 
“Most of the damaged homes were built of nipa palm leaves, bamboo and timber,” said Daw Ma Aye Khin, an IDP woman from Taungminkalar displacement camp in Kyauktaw Township. “The homes were all blown away and torn apart by the strong winds. My husband is no longer at home. My home is still held together with rope [after being damaged by Cyclone Mocha], so it was damaged by the strong winds.”
 
Despite the latest ceasefire between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army (AA), thousands of IDPs displaced by past fighting between the two sides have been unable to return to their homes for various reasons.