Voices From the Heart of Myanmar
An Aid Worker and a Yangon Resident Reflect on the Aftermath of Cyclone Nargis
We asked what they had had to eat today and they said that they had had a little rice and salt. They did not have any vegetables or meat. Nearly all of their livestock and vegetable gardens were lost.
We asked them what they needed and they told us — clean water and medicine. They also said that they had received no help yet and no one had been to ask about their dead and missing.
The people we met possessed a strong coping mechanism and we were impressed by their capacity to continue on in a dignified way. Here, no one expects external help and people help themselves and others as best they can.
We saw boats pass by taking building materials to communities up river as people put back roofs and walls on structures left standing. Many were rebuilding using debris and any bamboo they can find.
Finally we reached the leader's home village, another half hour along the river. The death toll here seemed to have been around 70. It is likely that the leader saved many lives by moving people into the church during the cyclone. The church building had sustained only minor damage and was still being used as a shelter for many people. The atmosphere in the temporary settlement was calm and friendly and the inhabitants even thanked us for coming. They had very limited supplies of necessities but had not lost everything unlike others in some areas.
They had also kept or recovered various cooking pots and water jars. Many of these, however, were damaged and they needed containers to catch the rain as a source of clean drinking water.
Water will continue to be an issue as the shallow wells have been contaminated by the muddy flood waters and the pumps on the tube wells have been broken off. Rain water harvesting will be an important activity during the wet season that is just beginning. To add to the difficulties, the firewood supplies are now wet and the continuing rains are not allowing any real drying of fuel.
We found that another major concern for the people of this area was that this is the rice planting season and by June there must be seeds in every field. Now their rice is all wet. Rice that has been wet and dried is edible but can not be used as seed for the next crop. During the recovery process they will need rice seeds, farm implements and draught animals to prevent a famine from the loss of a whole rice season.
Returning to Pyapon at about 4 p.m. we were humbled by the generous spirit of the community there who had prepared a simple meal for us to share in.
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