IDPs in Myebon’s Kanhtaunggyi forced to sleep on ground

By DMG 21 Dec 2022

DMG Newsroom
21 December 2022, Myebon

Some 180 internally displaced people (IDPs) taking shelter at a camp in Kanhtaunggyi town, Myebon Township, Arakan State, have been forced to make beds out of tarpaulin sheets and sleep on the ground, according to camp officials.

Camp officials can’t afford proper tents as there are few donors, said camp manager U Win Hla Aung.

“We have made makeshift tents out of tarpaulin sheets for them with donations we have received. Their health will be affected if they have to continue to sleep on the ground. There are elderly persons and newborns among the IDPs, and there will be serious impacts on their health if they have to sleep on the ground for long,” he said.

The IDPs, from Kazukaing Village in Ann Township, fled their homes following junta artillery shellings in October.

Many of them fled suddenly and had no time to pack their clothes, said the camp manager, who added that most of them fled with only clothes on their backs, and are in need of jackets and blankets.

“It is the cold season now and we therefore need blankets and jackets. We have been sleeping on the ground and there can be health problems. We will be more than satisfied if we have proper accommodation,” said IDP U Yar Aung.

“We have caught colds and also have developed back pains,” said another IDP, 63-year-old U Yan Aung. “We are concerned that we might suffer from stroke if we stay for long on the ground. Camp officials said they will build houses soon. We hope there will be donors.”

Camp officials are soliciting donations for 59 households that have been forced to sleep on the ground. Moreover, there is a need to rent land from farmland owners to accommodate the IDPs, said the camp manager.

“We have financial difficulties to rent the land. We have contacted a nongovernmental organisation, and they said they can only provide roofing materials, and are contacting other organisations,” he said.

A total of 121 households have been sheltering at Kanhtaunggyi IDP camp since being displaced by previous fighting, and some 109 households displaced by the renewed fighting in August are also taking shelter at the camp. More than 800 IDPs are taking shelter at the camp now.

More than 16,000 people were displaced by the latest fighting in Arakan and neighbouring Chin State’s Paletwa Township from August to late November, when the military and Arakan Army reached their informal truce. The number of IDPs including those displaced by the previous fighting totalled more than 90,000 by October.