Disease a threat as Kachin displaced wait for shelters

Disease a threat as Kachin displaced wait for shelters

By Wa Lone   |   Friday, 30 May 2014

A local humanitarian group has warned that families recently displaced by fighting in southeastern Kachin State are at risk of illness because refugee camps are unable to provide even basic housing, with some refugees forced to sleep on the ground because of overcrowding.

U Zaw La, a priest who heads the Kachin Baptist Convention-run refugee camp in the Man Waing Gyi area of Mansi township, said the families, some of whom have already been displaced once before, need better accommodation before the arrival of the rainy season.

The refugee camp was built by the United Nations Refugee Agency after clashes between the Tatmadaw and Kachin Independence Army erupted in mid-April.

It is one of five camps in the town that are collectively hosting about 6000 refugees, U Zaw La said.

"Rain was leaking into our bedroom last night. Some people got sick because they were sleeping on the floor," said La Hpai La Raw, 35, who fled Kaw Ngu Yan village with his five children last month.

He said one person from their village died in the fighting in April, while two people died in the nearby village of Maw Swe.
KBC camp nurse Daw Nan Raw said some refugees are suffering from diarrhoea, which is common in refugee camps during rainy season.

Many of the IDPs fled from the Lagat Yang and Khaung Khay refugee camps, which were situated between the KIA and Tatmadaw lines. They were abandoned when heavy fighting erupted in the vicinity of the camp.

Like La Hpai La Raw, nearby villagers also fled their homes, taking shelter in Man Waing Gyi.  About 140 displaced families are living with relatives in the town, rather than the refugee camps, U Zaw La said.

The camps receive assistance from UNHCR, UNICEF, World Vision, Save the Children and other NGOs.

A Tatmadaw official in the area said further outbreaks of fighting were unlikely but land mines remain a threat.

"We are taking care of security and there will be no more fighting have warned locals about the threat of land mines," said Lieutenant Colonel Kyaw San Oo from the No 88 Light Infantry Division, who led the week-long offensive against KIA soldiers launched on April 11.

At least 30 soldiers from both sides were killed or injured in the clashes.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said in its humanitarian bulletin for April that at least 2700 people were displaced by the fighting, most of whom were already IDPs. An unconfirmed number also fled across the border into China.

UNOCHA said a needs assessment conducted on April 24-25 found between 300 and 400 households were in need of temporary shelters, while camps were overcrowded and had little space for additional shelters.

"Humanitarian organisations are trying to identify safe and appropriate new sites for accommodating the newly displaced," it said. – Translation by Khant Lin Oo

Source: http://www.news.myanmaronlinecentre.com/2014/05/30/disease-a-threat-as-kachin-displaced-wait-for-shelters/