Kyauktaw IDP camp fire leaves hundreds homeless

By DMG 09 May 2022

DMG Newsroom
9 May 2022, Kyauktaw

A fire broke out at a camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in the compound of Mahamuni Pagoda in Arakan State’s Kyauktaw at around 1 a.m. on Monday, damaging or destroying 262 homes and leaving hundreds of IDPs in need of emergency relief aid. 

More than half of the 432 makeshift tents in the displacement camp were destroyed in the blaze, though no casualties were reported. 

“The fire victims are taking refuge at a railway station in Kyauktaw,” a Buddhist monk from the displacement camp told DMG, while others are reportedly sheltering at a nearby school. The affected IDPs need food and clothes, said U Than Htay, chairman of the Mahamuni displacement camp. 

“Mainly they need food. Many have lost their rations in the fire, along with kitchen utensils. If possible, they want to have longhouses ahead of the rainy season,” he said. 

The blaze was reportedly caused by kitchen embers that set fire to an IDP shelter and spread from there to nearby homes. Those displaced say emergency assistance is needed to repair or replace the affected homes as the monsoon season approaches. 

“The fire left us homeless,” said one IDP woman. “Some people donated us food items. We are homeless and need a lot of help. We have a lot of inconvenience and are facing difficulties because we have no place to live.” 

Ma Phyu Phyu, a fire-affected IDP now staying at the school being used as a temporary relocation site, said: “The roof of the school is leaking and it is wet. The railway station is also crowded. It has been raining and we are short of food. People are worried that they will have to stay like this long-term. All of us are in despair now.” 

Arakanese writer Ko Wai Hin Aung, who is actively involved in humanitarian efforts, said he was contacting local nongovernmental organisations to seek help for the fire victims. 

“Some problems will need to be handled immediately, and some problems need to be handled over time. For now, we are doing as much as we can to supply them with food,” he said. 

As of press time, IDP camp officials said they were still working to calculate the cost of the fire. 

The Arakan State military council has provided a week’s worth of rice, cooking oil, salt and fish paste rations for the fire victims, and has also supplied tarpaulin sheets, the state military government’s spokesman U Hla Thein wrote on his Facebook page. 

Kyauktaw’s Mahamuni IDP camp is home to 432 households and more than 1,000 people who fled their homes during the height of the conflict between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army (AA) in 2019 and 2020.