Cyclone Giri - Two Years On - Burma Action Ireland

Cyclone Giri: Two Years On
A: No other organisations donated sacks of rice. We only received a few relief items from different
people and organisations. You are the only group that has distributed one sack of rice for each
household. We really appreciate it. Actually, we saw many sacks of rice, but I don’t understand why
most of them were lost. There were also lots of longyis delivered to our village, but I didn’t get one of
the longyis to wear. Even though a lottery was made, the people get only the second-hand ones,
because the family of the village headman received all the new ones. The village headman is actually
a relative of mine. Even the distribution of pairs of slippers was made by lottery, but I didn’t get even
one pair of slippers. Chillies, torch lights and beans were delivered to the village headman’s house
by various donors the day before yesterday, but he only distributed a few of them to the villagers, and
kept the rest for himself and his family. I think the distribution of some relief items is just for show,
since it was not distributed to people equally. That caused a lot of problems among the villagers.
Q: Which relief items are most important for you at this moment
A: To be honest, we are in real need of all basic relief items such as rice, drinking water and so on.
Some drinking water arrived in our village, but we never got any drinking water. We were told that
we could get drinking water only when we were ill. I think it’s not fair.
11.
Gender: Female Place of Interview: Thunganut Village, Marmbra Township
Age: 50 Date of interview: First week of October 2011
Profession: Farmer Type of interview: Written
Q: Did you hear any news about other people who received support in other villages from the government/
NGOs
A: Yes, we heard that some people got quite a lot of support in some villages, particularly from the
government or USDP. They were supported by USDP, because they provided advance votes to the
USDP. It’s really a shame for our national cause that those villagers didn’t support and give votes to
our national party, RNDP.
12.
Gender: Male Place of interview: Ngarachai village, Pauktaw Township
Age: 62 Date of interview: 6 November 2010
Profession: Fisherman Type of interview: Video
Q: Will you have to vote in the election tomorrow For which party will you vote And why will you
vote for that party
A: As Arakanese, we will vote for an Arakanese party.
Q: If they vote for an Arakanese party, will the villagers be arrested
A: Actually not. We can all vote for an Arakanese party.
Q: Can the entire household vote
A: Yes, although the government told us that we would have to vote for them. They told me that ‘your
eyesight is not good’ and so you must take the ballot paper from the ballot box and give it to us. They
told me that ‘you can’t refuse what we want you to do’. If you make the wrong selection, that ballot will
be destroyed. They said that they will give three ballot papers for each person. You just need to say that
‘our sight is no good for these three ballots’. Then, it is better that they complete the ballots themselves.
If we vote by ourselves, those ballots would be got rid of, because we are Arakanese and will vote for
Arakanese.
13.
Gender: Male Place of Interview: Kyaukphru Chinkarri Village, Kyaukphru Township
Age: 40 Date of interview: 3 September 2011
Profession: Farmer Type of interview: Written
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