Kyauktalone IDPs reluctant to relocate to new displacement camp due to flooding

By DMG 26 May 2022

DMG Newsroom
26 May 2022, Kyaukphyu 

There are fears that it will be difficult for internally displaced people (IDPs) from Kyauktalone IDP camp in Arakan State’s Kyaukphyu Township to relocate because the new location for IDPs is prone to flooding. 

The new space where the displaced people were being relocated was flooded due to recent heavy rains, making the relocation process difficult and filled with questions for IDPs.  

“How will we live during the rainy season when we move to a new location? All new homes will be submerged by the floods. Government officials said new homes would be built by filling with earth to prevent flooding. Now some makeshift tents are flooded,” Ko Kyaw Myo Hlaing, an IDP from Kyauktalone displacement camp, told DMG. 

The IDPs say the new homes are being built in a low-lying area, and when it rains, nearby streams rise by at least a foot.  

“We don’t want to relocate to a new displacement camp, but we can’t prevent the government’s relocation plan. The new homes that are now submerged are built on high ground. Therefore, I would like to request that the remaining houses be built on high ground to prevent this from happening,” said Daw Nyo Nyo, an IDP from Kyauktalone displacement camp. 

Kyaukphyu Township Administrator U Myo Min Tun has told DMG that the displaced people from Kyauktalone IDP camp will be relocated to a new location about a mile away from the camp this year. 

More than 300 houses will be built for the IDPs, with over 100 having been built so far, according to U Myo Min Tun. 

He added that discussions were underway with the relevant authorities regarding the flooding of homes in the new displacement camp.  

“Some homes in the new displacement camp are flooded. This problem can be solved if the drainage system is rebuilt,” the township administrator said. 

More than 1,000 Muslim and Kaman people from 368 households in Kyaukphyu town’s Ayarshi, Paik The, Taman Chaung and Pyin Phyu Maw wards were displaced to the Kyauktalone IDP camp in the aftermath of the intercommunal violence that wracked Arakan State in 2012.