Displaced Maungdaw Twsp residents need relief supplies

By Admin 12 Aug 2024

DMG Newsroom
12 August 2024, Maungdaw

More than 6,000 people displaced by fighting in northern Maungdaw, Arakan State, are in need of food, medicines and shelter.

Half of them were displaced since the fighting broke out months ago, and the other half were recently displaced.

“The displaced people have been packed into schools. It has been raining heavily these days and it is very inconvenient. For the time being, villagers have shared rice with us. We were displaced some three months ago, and there have been no donors,” said a displaced woman.

Though the Arakkha Army (AA) is providing relief supplies for those displaced, the supply is not enough, according to the internally displaced people (IDPs).

The elderly are bearing the brunt, and some have died due to shortages of medicines. “A grandma died yesterday while we were taking shelter. Elderly people can’t stand the weather.

“They don’t have medicine and access to healthcare treatment. So, they die unnecessarily,” said a displaced man.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has suspended operations in Buthidaung, Maungdaw and Rathedaung townships due to armed conflict in the area.

Junta travel restrictions have also hindered the efforts of local and international non-governmental organisations and charities to help IDPs.

“I am supplying rice for displaced people with help from my friends working abroad,” said a volunteer helping displaced people in Maungdaw Town. “However, there are many displaced people and I can’t help them all. I don’t know how long the fighting will last.”

It has been nearly nine months since the latest fighting between Myanmar’s military regime and the AA broke out in November. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by the fighting, and many of them are going hungry.