Cyclone Aid Project 1: Twante, Kawmhu, KunChanKone, Dedaye
Funded by: Cyclone Aid Donors
Donation Items:
1500 kg of rice (30 sacks; 1 sack ~ 50kg)
150 kg of yellow lentils (3sacks; 1 sack ~ 50kg)
30 packs of Cereal (Each pack contains 30 sachets)
1 large bag of clothes; separated into smaller bags
Cash (Only to monasteries and a nunnery)
Project Expenditure - Main Fund:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pqVuU-s3oPiZQ0jp9BFmQSA
Project Expenditure - Reserve Fund:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=peewW-g4TJXU-2x4Gh56RAA&gid=1
Photo Album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/cyclone.aid/Project1
Coordinator/Expedition Leader:
San Yu
Expedition volunteers:
U Thein Myint, U Sein Tun, U Sein Tun's brother, Daw Yee Yee, Daw Thawdar, Thein Hteik Zaw, Aung Win Naing
Special Thanks:
U Myo (Dr) who gave us valuable advice for the trip, the van driver and the assistant who helped in the distribution as well as other volunteers who helped us in repacking the stock.
Acknowledgment:
U Win of Rice Merchant Association
Background:
TwanTe and KunChanKone Townships are part of Rangoon Division, and are situated close to the network of rivers that feed the delta. According to unofficial figures, 50,000 people perished in each township. Number of displaced survivors are unknown.
Travel Diary:
The expedition team gathered on 14.May.2008 at 6am. Our first stop was at the Rice Merchant Association to collect the 30 sacks of rice purchased the day before. 13 packs of the rice was repackaged into bags on about 1.6 kg.
We traveled in convoy with other volunteer groups. Our convoy consisted of 3 light trucks and 1 car. We drove southwest to TwanTe and went to the villages along the TwanTe-Kawmhu route. From Kawmhu, we continued to KunChanKone, and then to Dedaye. We bypassed the larger towns and chose to visit the outlying villages which were less accessible, and hence, received less aid.
In rural areas, the heart of the village is the village monastery. Most destitute villagers are housed and fed by the local monasteries. Hence, during this expedition, we first went to each monastery to donate sacks of rice, lentils, a few blankets, and cereal. We also made cash donations. The amount varied from Ks 5000 to Ks 15000 per monastery, depending on their needs. In addition to monasteries, we also visited hospitals, make-shift refugee camps, and a nunnery.
We arrived in Dedaye at 1 pm. On our way back, we started distributing to the refugees. Crowds were gathered by the roadside, presumably waiting for aid. We had to stop at 5 and 10 minute intervals to distribute the food.
With paddy fields flooded and animals gone, there was no work for these villagers, and every surviving member of the family was queueing up. We asked them to line up to receive the food, and also requested them not to queue up more than once as we wanted to distribute to as many people as possible. They seemed to understand our plea.
A local told us that about 7000 perished in KunChanKone township. 2000 of those came from the town itself. Cyclone Nargis caused floods, and water level rose as high as 6 feet. In one of the larger villages, TawkaYanGyi, 35 people died on the spot when a large tree fell on them. In total, the village lost 50 people to Cyclone Nargis.
The turnout was overwhelming. Luckily, we had enough manpower to handle the crowds. We quickly ran out of the pre-packed rice bags, and had to resort to scooping rice with large plastic cups, directly into plastic bags. Each plastic cup could hold about 1.3 kg of rice. A few times, we ran out of plastic bags, and had to stop and purchase them again.
Along the way, we observed that most of the village schools were destroyed; they are mainly built from wood. In fact, only one school remained standing in the area, and it was (we assumed) the only one made of brick and mortar.
The heavy rain at intervals impeded our progress. The road was wet and slippery. Not long after we left Yangon, as we were approaching TwanTe, the pick-up truck we traveled in veered off the road and dived off onto lower ground. Fortunately, it did not topple. We have the driver to thank for as he was skillful in handling the vehicle. It took 15 men to push the vehicle back onto the road. No one was hurt.
We arrived back in Yangon at 9pm, exhausted but happy to have done something to help the cyclone victims.
http://cyclone-aid.blogspot.com
This report was prepared by San Yu on 2008-05-15.