Cyclone Giri - Two Years On - Burma Action Ireland

Arakan Human Rights and Development Organisation
support including any capital investment for our agricultural farmlands submerged with salt water
during the cyclone, etc. since then.
19.
Gender: Male Place of Interview: Kyauknganaw Village, Mraybon
Township
Age: 52 Date of interview: 15 October 2012
Profession: Farmer and fisherman Type of interview: Paper
Q: How many children do you have
A: I have five children: two sons and three daughters.
Q: What is your family livelihood
A: Before the cyclone, I worked as a farmer and fisherman, but now I can only farm, since I lost all my
equipment, including boats and nets during the cyclone. I am not able to fish, because I cannot afford
to buy that equipment due to lack of capital investment. So my family now has less income than before
and we cannot feed the entire family of 7.
Q: What of your family’s was damaged during the cyclone
A: As I mentioned earlier, we’ve lost our fishing equipment, house and farming animals. Also, we lost
5 acres of ripe paddy fields.
Q: What is current situation of your family livelihood
A: We are fine for living now, since we repaired our damaged house by our own way. But we’ve found
it really difficult to plough our farms, as we don’t have enough farming animals and seeds. Even last
year, we had to plough our farms with the cows borrowed from others. But now we have fewer cows for
ploughing our farms and we are not able to buy some cows due to lack of income for the expenses of
buying some farming animals. We are almost hand-to-mouth now, and so we are not able to send our
children to schools. The eldest ones had to dropout from school for helping the family livelihood. I
have no idea on what to do for the education of my children now.
20.
Gender: Male Place of Interview: Mraybon Town
Age: 56 Date of interview: 25 September 2012
Profession: RNDP MP and farmer
Type of interview: Phone
Q: How much did Cyclone Giri affect Mraybon Township
A: All the houses, fishing equipment and agricultural farmlands in both rural and urban areas were
damaged by the cyclone. Many people died and the schools were also destroyed. Many parents still
have not been able to send their children to schools due to lessened family income. What’s worse is that
most of middle and high schools students had to dropout to help repair their family’s damaged livelihoods.
Q: What is current situation now
A: The people from our township are still facing the daily survivals of their families. And they are not
able to rebuild their broken family livelihoods in terms of farming and agricultural equipment. The
paddy seeds received from some NGOs are used up as food, since they don’t have enough rice for food.
Worse the rice production is not good as before due to salt water during the cyclone.
Q: We heard that some NGOs provided assistance to repair the natural embankments to the paddy fields,
is that true
A: Yes it’s true that some assistance was provided by some NGOs for repairs to the embankments, in
order to protect against salt water. But the assistance was not enough and so the townspeople have
been doing the repairs their own way.
Q: What is current situation of fishermen in this township
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