ENGLISH DEYEA NEWS

By YENI / MAE SOT:Sitting in a house where she is temporarily staying in Mae Sot on the Thai-Burma border, Ma Gyee, a 28-year-old Burmese cyclone survivor, speaks in a low, heartrending voice:

"The aid sits at the compounds of the local township authorities,” she said. “We, the survivors, have received just a drop."

A local pick-up truck overflowing with commuters. Observers say refugees from the Irrawaddy delta seeking a better life in Thailand are likely to continue arriving in Thai border towns in the coming months. (Photo: AP)

Ma Gyee is among some 100 Burmese cyclone refugees from the Irrawaddy delta and Rangoon Division who recently arrived in Mae Sot, located opposite the Burmese town of Myawaddy.

Some came to Mae Sot to try to collect donations to take back to their villages. Others came looking for jobs and a new home.

Ma Gyee said her hope for a better future now rests on giving her two children and 17-year-old brother a better life. She doesn’t plan to return to her home in Bogalay in the Irrawaddy delta, heavily damaged by Cyclone Nargis.

Looking at her younger brother, who sat close by, she said: "He’s now studying here. Two of my children also are at schools here for migrant children. I know that there is a much better life here than in the Irrawaddy delta."

Ma Gyee, who lost her parents and many friends when the cyclone struck her village, asked with tears in her eyes: "Is it true that Light Infantry Division (LID) 66 which is deployed in the delta is the same one that carried out raids on monasteries [in Rangoon] and opened fire on protesting monks in last year's demonstrations?"

Mae Sot, known as “Little Burma,” is Thailand's closest border city to Rangoon, the former capital, and it serves as a hub for Burmese migrants and refugees who flee for political or economic reasons.

Many local and international aid groups in the area are well established and offer various services to the permanent migrant population and to refugees.

One organization, funded by international and local donors, is the popular Mae Tao Clinic, founded and directed by Dr Cynthia Maung, an ethnic Karen. It offers free health care for refugees and migrant workers and special education programs for migrant children.

Observers say a stream of refugees seeking a better life in Thailand is likely to continue to arrive in Thai border towns in the coming months, as the Burmese regime continues to refuse to grant access to international aid workers and to block donations of food and other material from reaching the millions of people who have been seriously affected by the disaster.

Further complicating the plight of refugees is the fact that the rice growing season starts this month and it’s not likely to take place because of a lack of funds and seeds, and because salt water has covered many of the paddies.

The US Department of Agriculture said in an assessment issued last week that "farmers are yet to be supplied with sufficient food, viable seed, tools, livestock or replacement tillers and fuel" and the area affected by the cyclone "normally accounts for roughly 60 percent of Burma's rice production."

If farmers in the delta can’t resume rice growing this year because of the regime’s lack of help, Burma's food security could be at risk, say international experts.

"I have no idea about food for the future,” said Ma Gyee. “At the moment, everyone there just struggles very hard for their daily survival."