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FROM THE FIELD

Myanmar: A father too weak, a family goes hungry
06 May 2008 15:21:00 GMT
 Source: World Vision - Asia Pacific
By Wah Eh Htoo, WV Myanmar Communications

Website: Website: http://www.wvasiapacific.org

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Maung Soe with his father and baby sister seek shelter in a schoolhouse after their house was destroyed by cyclone Nargis.
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Maung Soe with his father and baby sister seek shelter in a schoolhouse after their house was destroyed by cyclone Nargis.
World Vision 2008

Background

•  Myanmar cyclone

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It is 5:30pm on May 2nd in Yangon and on a wooden bench, Maung Soe, a two-year-old boy sits with his sister and her six-month-old daughter crying for food and water. They have not had any sustenance since they woke this morning.

Maung Soe is one of millions of children affected by the super cyclone Nargis, which created the worst disaster in Myanmar's recorded history.

It has been three days since the cyclone hit Maung Soe's village and destroyed his family's home. He ran for his life with his eight family members to seek shelter at the local school in the town of Hlaing Thar Yar, forty minutes drive from Yangon. They have been there ever since. It is too dangerous to leave.

Maung Soe's 46 year-old father, U Myint Maung, tells of their escape from the deadly cyclone: "I often sleep at my workplace. I come back home only twice a week to bring back some money for the family as the daily travel cost is too much for us."

"But that night (May 2) I saw a warning on TV that a storm was heading toward Yangon. My wife was away from home on a trip and I worried for my family so I went back home. The storm started coming at about midnight. I didn't sleep at all. At about 5 am (on May 3) our (wooden-bamboo) house was destroyed."

"At first, I took my three youngest family members (six-month-old grand daughter, two and five year old son and daughter, respectively) and ran to a nearby house that was still OK," he explained.

Then, about 8 am, battling through rain and wind, we ran to the school as it is the only place that could not be blown away in our neighbourhood."

The two-storey concreted building, which normally accommodates 2000 school children, has become a shelter for more than 5000 cyclone affected people. More than half of them are children.

U Myint Maung explained the situation at the school was not good. "I didn't have enough strength to fight for a ration-card today and the authorities can not provide enough meals for everyone so my family has nothing to eat and no water today," he said.

U Myint Maung is just one of thousands of people who have gone hungry in the past three days. The city of Yangon, the biggest city and economic hub of Myanmar, has been in total chaos. The public transportation system is still paralysed by fallen trees, cables and lack of fuel. Most of the city buses are run with natural gas but gas stations cannot open as there is no electricity.

World Vision was one of the first to respond, providing much needed drinking water for the people staying at the school. But Myint Maung is unsure of what the future holds. "Our place is still unliveable. Everything is under water. I have no money to repair my house," he explained.

"World Vision has helped us a lot over the years. They gave me medicine to cure my TB, they supported my children with schooling and now I believe that they'll help as much as they can."


[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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People stand next to an advertisement tower that had fallen on a street in Yangon May 6, 2008, after Cyclone Nargis slammed into Myanmar's main city on Saturday. Myanmar's military government ...


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Last updated:Tue May 6 15:32:00 2008