By Fr. Charles Saw, SDB
August 16, 2015 - After two weeks of rains, the flood has shifted to lower Myanmar (Delta, near Yangon). The affected areas of the early phase are now covered with mud-slides all over.
- Kalay proper
- We are cleaning up the mud on the roads and the school-campuses; also cleansing of wells and water sources, along with repairs of toilets. We use portable diesel pumps or petrol engines to pump out the muddy waters from the wells.
- Right now, we have distributed food and potable water.
- In the camps the people, especially the children, are disheartened and hopeless, so our team is doing some uplift programme through some songs and performances.
- All these works of ours are being helped by our past-pupils ( alumni) and volunteers.
- Mandalay proper
- We go round visiting the camps together with the Religious Conference ( in which we are in charge of the Presidential role)
- Data gathering is also being done as n important part of efficient reached out.
- We contact donors and put them in touch with the victims in distributing aid which we also actively participate.
- Myit Kyi Na
- We are cleaning up roads, houses and schools.
- We pump out muddy waters from wells and water sources.
- We even tackle some bridge repairs apart from re-building houses and repairing roads.
- Our boys and girls from our Vocational Training Center, together with our past-pupils and volunteers help us in these tasks.
- We distribute food supply and potable water to the villagers. ( surprisingly no NGO our charitable group reaches these villages)
- Yangon proper and Delta area
- Some low-lying places are just beginning to have floods shifted from the upper regions, so we start relocating people to safety.
- Where the water have receded we join the medical teams by providing transports and medicine; these volunteer-doctors and medics divide themselves into 4 groups and make their rounds treating or curing diarrhea, allergies (skin-itch) and gandene fever.
- We distribute food, potable water, mats and mosquito nets to the remote villages.
The present situation
- The Chin Hills (Kalay and surrounding region): due to heavy and major land-slides, some places have mud to the depth of 20 feet; there are villages where help cannot reach because the only possible transport is Helicopter. Mud-slides and erosion or roads make the people to walk three days to come on foot to reach us to call for help.
- Most of the paddy fields are buried under mud completely causing the people to suffer the loss of the only yearly crop for their livelihood.
- Daily-wagers who earn their meager food by working in the fields are jobless now because the mud-covered fields are uncultivable or the time of sowing or planting is over. No staple food for the coming year is guaranteed, but present day to day sustenance us insurmountable.
- There are still many villages where the help never reaches due to the distance or difficulty in transportation. They are stuck in their swampy area without food or water.
Report from the EAO provinces about financial help to the Myanmar flood victims
- Until today August 18 - one Major Mission Office - MISSIONI DON BOSCO (Torino) sent already a substantial financial help to Myanmar and MISSIONES SALESIANAS (Madrid) launched their massive campaign.
- Among the EAO Provinces and Delegations: some sent some financial help (FIS, GIA, KOR, THA) or are now collecting (AUL-Australia Mission Office, PNG-SI Delegation – selling one cow in Tetere and collecting from the PNG schools) and made a pledge to send soon some help (FIN).
