KYAUKTAN, Myanmar, May 30 (Reuters) - Myanmar's junta started evicting destitute families from government-run cyclone relief centres on Friday, apparently out of concern the 'tented villages' might become permanent.
"It is better that they move to their homes where they are more stable," a government official said at one camp where people have been told to clear out by 4 pm (0930 GMT). "Here, they are relying on donations and it is not stable."
Locals and aid workers said there were 39 camps in the immediate vicinity of Kyauktan, 30 km (19 miles) south of Yangon, being cleared out as part of the wave of evictions.
"We knew we had to go at some point but we had hoped for more support," 21-year-old trishaw driver Kyaw Moe Thu said as he trudged out of the camp with his five brothers and sisters, the youngest of whom is just 2-½ years old.
They had been given 20 bamboo poles and some tarpaulins to help rebuild their lives in the Irrawaddy delta, where 134,000 people were left dead or missing by Cyclone Nargis on May 2.
"Right now, we are disappointed," he said.
Four weeks after the disaster, the United Nations says fewer than one in two of the 2.4 million people affected by the cyclone have received any form of help from either the government, or international or local aid groups. (Writing by Ed Cropley; Editing by Darren Schuettler and Sanjeev Miglani)
Cyclone Nargis victims wait for aid from donors along the road to Dedaye May 19, 2008. Myanmar's junta lashed out at offers of foreign aid on Thursday, criticising donors' demands for ...
