Cyclone Giri - Two Years On - Burma Action Ireland

Cyclone Giri: Two Years On
[ P A R T I I ]
ANNEXURE I: Excerpts of interviews in 2011
ANNEXURES
1.
Gender: Female Place of interview: Sareprum Village, Pauktaw Township
Age: 72 Date of interview: 3 September 2011
Profession: Retired Type of interview: Telephone
She remembers the cyclone that struck Arakan State in 1968:
“Most of the houses in my village were totally destroyed. The village monastery and primary school
were also badly damaged. But we (my family) were lucky that our house was only partially damaged,
even though a very big tree from our compound was up-rooted and fell into the front of the house. Even
though there was a lot of damage to houses and deaths of farm animals, fortunately no one died in my
village. After the cyclone, the people in my village faced famine for weeks. We didn’t receive any
support from the government and NGOs. So most of the villagers had to eat different kinds of fruits and
drink impure and salty water just for survival that made them ill and infected with diarrhoea and other
waterborne diseases. The problem was that there were no medicines, doctors or medics to take care of
the vulnerable cyclone-affected people. This happened not only in my village, but in many other villages
across nearly the entire state of Arakan. The cyclone left thousands of people homeless, hundreds of
people injured, and at least 2,000 dead particularly in Ngamanreit Kyunt, an island where there are
tens of villages in Mraybon Township. Additionally, the cyclone damaged a lot of mangroves along the
Arakan coast that were very important for local livelihoods, as firewood, protection from natural disasters
such as tidal waves, preventing soil erosion, and for providing suitable habitats for certain kinds of
marine animals. Additionally, thousands of acres (1,000 acres = 405 ha) of farmland and plantation
gardens were ruined, due to salt water from the sea, especially in the coastal areas. Even almost one
month after the cyclone, we saw a lot of dead bodies floating along the rivers and tributaries. It was
really a very terrible and awful scene to see those dead bodies.”
2.
Gender: Male Place of Interview: Sitetway
Age: 29 Date of interview: 5 June 2011
Profession: Fisherman Type of interview: Written
He recalls the 2004 Cyclone in Arakan State:
“The next day, I heard bad news of deaths and severe damage in Mraybon Township. In Kanhtoatgree
alone, a sub township of Mraybon Township where I lived and worked, there were approximately 300
fishermen and women who died and severe damage to thousands of acres (1,000 acres = 405 ha) of
shrimp farms. Additionally, I heard that at least 1,000 people died in Ngamanreit Kyunt alone, an
island in Mraybon Township where there are dozens of fishing villages. But I don’t know exactly how
many people died across the whole of Arakan State.
Two days after the cyclone, I went back to my home town Sitetway by motor boat. I saw piles of debris
including destroyed fishing boats, fishing nets, scattered pieces of wood from the destroyed houses,
trunks of up-rooted trees, etc. all floating on the rivers. I also saw many houses the roofs of which had
been ripped off, uprooted trees, destroyed and fallen signboards, lampposts, etc. scattered along the
streets, particularly piles of debris from those houses damaged on the Strand Road of Sitetway. Moreover,
I saw that many fishing boats were still aground and some boats were up on the roofs of the houses. The
worst thing was that Sitetway’s jetty was broken into two or three pieces, and a local cargo ship, named
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