Urgent Flood Relief continues in Kyaukse
We recently shared about our flood relief trip to Kon Gyi village in Kyaukse, Myanmar, which involved the distribution of rice and eggs to 120 families. The journey was challenging, with flood-damaged roads and fast-flowing streams making travel difficult. Volunteers and local villagers helped transport supplies through hazardous conditions, like wading through deep water, and forced to use boats and ox-carts instead of motorized vehicles. In the village, far from town and cut off by the flood, residents were suffering from hunger and exhaustion, especially children and the elderly. These life-saving donations was made possible only through the generous donations that our supporters provided, and we are so very thankful. The continuation of the report follows.
Please let me resume my story of our aid trip providing urgent humanitarian care to those people suffering in the Kyaukse area after severe flooding.
So, in the afternoon, the local volunteers suggested that the water level was getting higher and hence, we went back to the town with some nuns. The rain was also coming and we could hear the thunder as well. It was unsettling. Furthermore, one of the leading nuns got sick from the heat and water. She is in her 70s and another nun has got a chronic disease, so we became worried. In our team, there were 2 other people in their 60s and one of them got a knee ache. Therefore, after the nuns and I discussed it, we drove them back to the town. We handed over the goods to the other nuns and our young volunteers. Since the village elders also arrived there in their ox-carts and tractors, we handed the supplies and we turned back. Some of our team went to the village in their ox-carts and tractors.
On our return, we felt the water flow faster and stronger, in the fords and streams. Oh this was very challenging now. And, it was raining all the way back to Kyaukse and it rained heavily in the town as well. In fact, we could see the heavy rain all over the Shan Mountains, and towards the east of the town. We were wishing for no heavier rain and no suffering for the people in our country as we heard another typhoon or cyclone was likely to come about in the South China Sea. We also sadly heard that the dams are still releasing the water and further flooding was happening. Well, as they say, ‘When it rains, it pours.’
When we phoned the team leader nun at about 7.30 pm, she informed us that the team was safe and coming back. She whispered to me that two young nuns almost fell in the stream and if they did, they would have been washed away by the flow of water! Anyway, we all were safe and are going back now. Since the nuns led this donation campaign, the checkpoints did not restrict us, so we were able to proceed and deliver aid where it was so very much needed.
Anyway, we joined today's campaign with the nuns to observe the real situation on the ground and the status of the roads. We were wondering as well, if we can set up a temporary warehouse in the town or the nearest village where it was not affected by flood at all. This can create a systematic distribution of relief aid items. According to my experience with the Indonesian Red Cross when I learned about disaster management, I noticed a situation wherein it was dangerous for the donors or relief aid distributors themselves because there were some traffic jams on this narrow country road and we had safety concerns about the water level in the streams. Many other charities' vehicles and rescue ambulances went and helped other surrounding villages. There, the villagers came and offered their labor, that's why there were traffic jams! As every group of local volunteers from the target beneficiary villages came and gathered, it was a big crowd and the distribution of items seemed confusing. There must be a better way, therefore, to manage this.
Although the groups were shouting their village's name, it was quite a mess and there was no systematic management. My colleague commented that the local authorities or community elders such as the monks in the town should work to organize a systematic distribution, such as inviting and distributing the relief items to the village's elders and volunteers, instead of allowing all the donors to the areas/villages. It can lead to another disaster, even if all the people there truly have good intentions of wanting to help and support.
Since it was fine to allow the rescue charities to go and save the villagers in trouble last week, the villagers can access the town via land routes now, and hence, only their representatives can come and receive the relief aides. We have not seen any involvement of the township's authorities, much like what we saw during Cyclone Nargis. In our country, it is only the people helping the people, and it are the authorities who are only there to try to harm us.
I also met and discussed with the head monks of the Maha Gandharum Monastery in Kyaukse, as they were also planning a needs assessment and systematic distribution plan of relief aid. The monastery is a branch of the well-reputed Maha Gandharum Monastic School in Amarapura and it was also a little bit flooded in its campus. We are also planning to help the monasteries aside from the Zawgyi River in the urban areas.
In conclusion, we shall organize our upcoming relief program in such a way that we will invite the village representatives (elders and volunteers) to the said monastery, and distribute the relief aid items to them. In connection with the monks from the monastery, we are also seeking contacts to reach our relief aid for the monastics who were affected by the recent floods. We read some meteorological predictions that there is still a likelihood of another destructive flood for the locals residing in the Kyaukse plains called 'လယ်တွင်းကိုးခရိုင် (Nine Agricultural Districts)' and other main lands (Wundwin, Lewe, Naypyitaw, Taungoo, etc.) in the center of Myanmar between the Shan Mountain Range and Ayeyarwady River.
I am deeply grateful to the donors for making this trip possible. Despite the challenges we faced on the journey, your contributions made a real difference. However, there is still much more to be done, as many villages remain isolated and in need of further support, and more bad weather is on its way shortly. Thank you again for your kindness and support in these trying times.
