Myanmar cyclone survivors haunted by lack of work and shelter

Originally appeared in Reuters Alert Net

February 9, 2010

Almost two years after Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar’s Irrawaddy delta, killing nearly 140,000 and leaving 2.4 million destitute, survivors are still struggling to recover their livelihoods and many are living without adequate shelter, a report released on Tuesday in Yangon said.

The region may face a second crisis unless people’s livelihoods improve, warned the Tripartite Core Group (TCG) which prepared the Post-Nargis Periodic Review III. The TCG is made up of the regional bloc ASEAN, the Myanmar government and the United Nations.

“Options for income earning appear to have shrunk … Unless livelihood-related needs are addressed, recovery will be prolonged, raising the potential for another crisis,” said the TCG in a statement.

Many communities in the delta region, known as the rice bowl of the country, depend on fishing and farming. The cyclone wiped out 80 per cent of the delta’s livestock, according to unpublished figures collected by the TCG.

Dr. William Sabandar, special envoy of the secretary-general of ASEAN for post-Nargis recovery in Myanmar, said aid levels have dropped too low to enable cyclone survivors to recover their way of life.

And many people have not been able to borrow enough money to recuperate, Sabandar told AlertNet. As a result, “farmers have begun to sell land to others. Some farmers and fishermen are now making a living as casual labourers”.

This in turn has reduced job opportunities for people who were casual labourers before the cyclone struck.

Fishing communities in places such as Bogale and Labutta, which bore the brunt of Nargis, lost many of their boats and commercial fishing “shows no sign of recovery”, the TCG report said.

SHELTER NEEDS

Shelter remains severely under-funded, and most families have rebuilt their own homes. In mid-January 2010, over 100,000 households – around half a million people – were living in poor shelters that will not withstand another disaster, the TCG said.

“In the case of shelter, every dry day is valuable,” said Srinivasa Popuri, head of the U.N. housing agency UN-HABITAT in Myanmar.

Despite heavy damage – almost 800,000 homes were destroyed or damaged according to an earlier TCG report – donors have been consistently reluctant to fund it. Part of the reason is the perception among donors that housing is the responsibility of the government and most donors want to avoid being seen as subsidising Myanmar’s military regime.

Last November, international donors pledged $88 million after an appeal of $103 million. But only $250,000 was pledged – by a single donor – for shelter, said Popuri.

The Myanmar government has funded 30,000 homes at a cost of $1,400 each, most of them built by private companies. Aid agencies have built 37,000 new houses so far, costing between $600 and 800 each, Popuri said.

The latest TCG figures show that 84 per cent of households say their homes are hotter, wetter and/or more crowded than they were before the Nargis disaster.

“Much of the credit goes to the people of Delta themselves, who are so resilient (albeit not by choice) who are still suffering and without any complaints,” Popuri said.

The Periodic Review III is an assessment of needs based on interviews with 1,400 households in 30 townships in the Irrawaddy and Yangon Divisions.