Dozens of storm-hit villages in Arakan State yet to receive relief supplies

By Admin 13 Jul 2023

DMG Newsroom
13 July 2023, Sittwe

There remain many villages in storm-hit townships of Arakan State where residents are reportedly facing difficulties as relief items supplied by local organisations are not reaching them.

Cyclone Mocha killed scores of people and thousands of cattle, and destroyed thousands of homes in northern Arakan State. Several villages in storm-ravaged parts of the state have been left out of aid deliveries to date. 

“Locals in some storm-hit villages have received relief items, but we have yet to receive any assistance. Some homes destroyed by the storm in the village are being repaired on a self-reliant basis,” said U Tun Aye Kyaw, a resident of Kainggyi Village in Maungdaw Township.

Locals in Kainggyi Village, which is home to more than 600 people from 132 households, are facing difficulties rebuilding their homes.

Local people along the upper reaches of Yoe Creek in Arakan State’s Kyauktaw Township, meanwhile, are reportedly facing challenges although they have received some relief supplies. Residents in one such settlement, Thaluchaung Village, which has more than 200 homes, have reportedly yet to receive relief items from the junta.

“The junta didn’t provide humanitarian aid to our village. An Arakanese group in Yangon donated 27 rice bags to our village,” said a resident of Thaluchaung Village.

Residents in London Village, Mrauk-U Township, have not received relief items so far.

“The Arakan Army has provided some villages with relief items. Aid will reportedly arrive in our village soon. We have not heard news that the junta would provide us with relief supplies,” said U Ar Tu, a local man.

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, on his second visit to Arakan State since the storm, said that recovery work had made some progress in the two months since Cyclone Mocha made landfall on May 14.

Residents also pointed out a glaring aspect of the post-cyclone recovery period: Since June 8, the junta has banned international humanitarian groups from providing aid to storm victims.

The junta’s Arakan State Administration Council has said a total of 1,156,796 people were affected by Cyclone Mocha in Arakan State, with financial losses totaling nearly K4.7 billion and 148 deaths recorded. A total of 27,617 cattle were killed and 241,071 homes were destroyed by Cyclone Mocha in Arakan State, according to Myanmar’s military regime.