Incessant rains bring flooding to IDP camps in northern Arakan State

By Admin 26 Jun 2023

DMG Newsroom
26 June 2023, Myebon

Internally displaced people (IDPs) from some displacement camps in northern Arakan State are facing accommodation difficulties as IDP camps have been flooded by incessant rains in recent days.

IDP camps such as Yetchaung in Myebon Township, Nyaungchaung in Kyauktaw Township, Cedipyin in Rathedaung Township and Tin Nyo in Mrauk-U Township are inundated by floodwaters.

“When it rains, it floods, and when the rain stops, it dries up. But if the creek rises, we are not OK. Last year we had to stay in the village due to torrential rains. Now the IDP camp is just flooded due to continuous rain,” said Ko Tun Myat Zaw, an IDP man from Yetchang displacement camp in Myebon Township.

Yetchaung IDP camp is located near a mountain and is close to a creek, so during heavy rains, water flows down from the mountain and floods IDP shelters.

IDPs said the shelters in the low-lying parts of Nyaungchaung IDP camp in Kyauktaw Township have been flooded for the past three days.

“If it rains more, the displacement camp will be flooded [beyond the low-lying areas] and mosquitoes will breed,” said Daw Ma Than, an IDP woman from Nyaungchaung displacement camp, voicing a common fear of mosquito-borne illnesses during the rainy season.

The shelters of about 50 households located in low-lying parts of the Cedipyin IDP camp in Rathedaung Township, which has a population of more than 4,600 people, are in similarly dire straits.

“There is no place to cook at some shelters submerged by floodwater. It is not easy to move the entire displacement camp due to this flooding. That’s why it would be better if the relevant departments make preparations to prevent the displacement camps from flooding,” said an IDP from the Cedipyin displacement camp.

Heavy rain is expected to continue across Arakan State, according to a statement from the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology on Monday.

The total number of IDPs in Arakan State, including those who remained at displacement camps due to 2018-2020 fighting between the military and Arakan Army, stood at about 78,000, according to a report last month from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA).