Rangoon residents scrambling for food, shelter

Nem Davies

Tuesday, 06 May 2008 00:00

Residents across Rangoon faced a shortage of rice and other goods Tuesday while being forced to pay more than twice the normal prices. "I just went and bought a bag of rice and paid more than double the price at Bayintnaung sales centre," said Daw Chin, a resident of a Rangoon suburb, referring to the city's main rice market. "Most commodity prices also went up. It's unbelievable." Most small shops remained closed in the wake of Cyclone Nargis while several shops sold a limited number of rice bags. "We could not get rice bags around my area because shops are closed due to a fear of looting," Daw Chin said. A standard bag of ordinary rice cost 31,000 kyats (or about $27 USD). Before the cyclone, the price was 13,000 kyats (or slightly more than $11 USD). "Only poor quality rice is available in that shop," Daw Chin added. "And I could not get cooking oil there." She also complained that she couldn't find vegetables at her local market. Daw Chin said the storm struck at 2 a.m. Saturday, with roaring winds and pelting rain. "I've never experienced anything like this before," she said. According to Mizzima's sources the death toll caused by the Cyclone has rise to over 50,000 with more than 41,000 people missing. In addition, tens of thousands people were left homeless in the Irrawaddy Delta region and Rangoon. However, a dissident activist from Laputta Township, who talked to Mizzima over telephone after fleeing to Rangoon in the weak of the Cyclone, said there are at least 100,000 deaths in his township alone. But the information could not be independently verified. Roads are blocked by trees and electricity poles, and many homeless people sought shelter at churches and monasteries. A woman who was staying at the "Full Gospel Church" in Insein township told Mizzima, "My house was totally destroyed by the storm on Friday night. The roof was swept away, and also the main pole to the entrance of the house broke," said Lam Vung, 35, a mother of three. "We sleep on the floor and eat rice gruel, which I ask some neighbouring houses to give each day," she added. "I could not do anything because my husband is paralyzed and all my kids are still young. The youngest son is only 10 months old." One Rangoon resident said by e-mail: "The city is devastated. Nearly all trees fell on the streets.  There is no electricity, no rescue plan and the worst thing is no water.  To rebuild the infrastructure will take a couple of months." Some local residents and eyewitness said that main roads had been cleared and buses were running, but that fairs had more than doubled. "I paid 500 kyat from Insein to 8 Miles Junction [a main road], which is four miles away, but normally I pay 200 kyat," a traveler told Mizzima. "Taxi fairs also rose to 8,000, but we normally pay 3,000 kyats for the same ride." Municipal water supplies were working well, residents reported, but electricity was still out in major townships. A staff from the Rangoon-based weekly "Popular Journal" told Mizzima that the paper would be published Wednesday, as most of the work was nearly done and the paper was using a generator. But the office, he said, was nearly empty. "Here there are no editors or reporters right now," he said. "They are busy taking care of their own personnel affairs due to cyclone." < Prev   Next >