YANGON, May 15, 2008 (AFP) - Myanmar has moved tens of thousands of homeless cyclone survivors into government-run shelters, pushing them out of monasteries and schools, several Buddhist monks from the disaster zone said Thursday. They said people were relocated by boats and trucks, and some said it was unclear if there was enough food and water in the camps run by the government, which has been harshly criticised over the cyclone relief effort.
About 80,000 people had sought shelter in schools and temples in the Irrawaddy Delta town of Labutta, which was left in ruins after Cyclone Nargis struck nearly two weeks ago, they said. Now only about 20,000 remain in their care at 50 monasteries in Labutta, after the military moved them to camps set up in the towns of Myaungmya and Pathein, which escaped the storm with little damage, the monks said. "People were moved in boats and trucks to nearby towns," one of them told AFP in the main city of Yangon, where monks have come to seek donations for the disaster relief effort. "We don't know whether they can get enough food and water there." The United Nations estimates that 550,000 people are now living in temporary settlements, where accounts from evacuees say there is not enough food, water or shelter for everyone. The drive to move people to emergency shelters could be part of efforts to improve sanitation for survivors, which state media have said is a priority for the secretive military government. But Myanmar has in the past been accused by human rights groups of forcibly relocating villages to make way for military operations or construction projects.
Monks said they were helping shelter and feed victims of the storm, which hit May 2 and 3, leaving more than 66,000 people dead or missing, according to the regime's official figures. "The authorities do not have enough supplies (to feed and shelter victims). Monks still have to take care of these victims," said a 30-year-old monk from Labutta, who travelled to Yangon in search of donations. "They want to rely on Buddhist monks," he said. "I want to say the authorities should do more for storm victims. I am not saying that all the authorities neglect the people. Some were really helpful," he said. Another monk said the monasteries in Labutta were struggling to cope with the enormous need for help, and would prefer to see an international relief effort to aid cyclone victims. "We want international help to reach them directly, without going through the authorities," he said. Buddhist monks led mass street protests in tightly controlled Myanmar last year, which began as unhappiness over rising fuel prices and turned into the biggest demonstrations against the regime in nearly 20 years.
The United Nations said 31 people were killed when the military stepped in to end the demonstrations. Some survivors have said they left the government camps in the delta and travelled to Yangon in search of help from monasteries in the country's biggest city. "They are many people waiting for food and water in the camps. It was very difficult for me to survive there," said Ko Win, a 45-year-old who had found shelter at a Yangon pagoda. "How can you live at these camps?" he said. "But people also don't want to go back their villages because they are afraid of another disaster."
hla-gs/mc/mtp