Arakan State displacement camp managers seek blankets, warm clothes for IDPs as seasonal temps begin to drop

By DMG 16 Nov 2022

DMG Newsroom
16 November 2022, Sittwe

Blankets and warm clothes are needed for people internally displaced (IDPs) by fighting between the military and Arakan Army in Arakan State for the coming months as seasonal temperatures begin to fall, according to displacement camp officials.

With tens of thousands of people still displaced from previous fighting in Arakan State, the number of IDPs has been steadily climbing over recent months amid renewed hostilities in the region.

The number of IDPs in Arakan State and neighbouring Paletwa Township, Chin State, has increased by more than 17,000 due to the resurgence in fighting between the military and Arakan Army (AA) from August to mid-October. Clashes and unprovoked artillery strikes hitting several villages have continued in the weeks since.

In a statement on October 19, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said that with those newly displaced, the total number of IDPs from past and present military-AA fighting stands at more than 91,000.

IDPs are in need of blankets and warm clothes as no social organisations have yet donated these items to them, said IDP camp officials.

“We need warm clothes and medicine for children during the winter season. Makeshift tents are made of tarpaulin and cannot protect the IDPs from the cold. That’s why we worry that children will have runny noses and coughs,” said U Naing Tun Win, manager of Wah Taung IDP camp in Kyauktaw Township.

“IDPs will have difficulties in winter because the cold will be biting and the wind will be strong,” said U Maung Thein Shwe, in-charge of Kavi Yadana displacement camp in Kyauktaw Township.

Some 5,000 residents from several villages in Ponnagyun Township have recently fled their homes due to junta raids and artillery strikes. About 300 people displaced by the fighting are currently taking refuge at Ingyin Tawya Monastery in Ponnagyun and IDPs are in urgent need of warm clothes, said the abbot.

Newly arrived IDPs are reportedly sheltering at Myoma Monastery, Ingyin Tawya Monastery, Thirimizzu Monastery in downtown Ponnagyun, and in Poeshweepyin and Nartaungkya villages.

“IDP women are in need of sanitary pads and underpants. In addition, blankets and warm clothes are needed for IDP children and elderly people. They [IDPs] could bring nothing when they left home,” an aid worker said.

Last year’s winter brought sickness among children and the elderly in the IDP camps due to the cold, according to displacement camp officials.