Cyclone Victims Migrating to Thailand

Migrant support groups based in Mae Sot, report that there has been an influx of Burmese cyclone survivors in the last month. The migrants report that conditions in the Irrawaddy Delta region have become too dire to stay there. Survivors report a shortage of aid and medical help. They have come to seek these essentials in Mae Sot, with some being treated at Dr Cynthia’s Mae Tao clinic. Many of the migrants are orphans who are sheltering in the clinic, at the Mae La refugee camp and with friends and relatives in Mae Sot. Migrant rights groups are petitioning the Thai authorities in order to let migrants into Burma to search for relatives and then to be allowed back into Thailand.

From: Narinjara
http://www.narinjara.com/details.asp?id=1771

Arakanese People Suffer for Nargis Victims

The people of Arakan state are being forced to provide donations for the survivors of Nargis. The authorities in the state are collecting not only money but cows, seeds, buffalo and timber. With the approaching agricultural season, the farmers of Arakan state are already struggling to meet their own needs in order to get planting underway.

From: Democratic Voice of Burma
http://english.dvb.no/news.php?id=1402

Cyclone refugees threatened with relocation

Shwe Paukkan township authorities have been forcing survivors out of their adopted homes in relief camps. Those who are refusing to leave are being threatened with relocation to Arakan state. The authorities are offering 100,000 kyat to those who will be relocated. Those IDP’s who are being forced out of the camps have no homes to go to, or their homes, if they survived the cyclone are surrounded by water. They have neither food supplies, nor income, nor a means with which to rebuild their houses.

From: SBS World News Australia
http://news.sbs.com.au/worldnewsaustralia/burma_attacks_media_for_cyclone_coverage_548658

Burma attacks media for cyclone coverage

Burmese state media outlets have vented anger over the foreign media coverage of the cyclone aftermath. According to Burmese government mouth piece media sources, foreign journalists have been in league with planted sources in the delta and have been presenting a distorted view of the living conditions of the survivors and of the relief effort in an attempt to “tarnish Burma’s image”. The New Light of Myanmar described the reports as "despicable and inhuman acts of local and foreign anti-government groups and self-centred persons," who it said were "absolutely obnoxious".

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