Labor migration leaves women and children to face flooding in Mon State

September 5, 2013

WCRP: Although the heavy rains that pounded much of Karen and Mon States abated as July came to a close, renewed downpours in Kyaikmayaw Township last month were particularly hard on women and children. Due to the high numbers of migrant workers from Kyaikmayaw living in Thailand and Malaysia, women were primarily tasked with moving family members and possessions to higher ground, covering gaps in income and food when work and local resources became scarce, and restoring damaged homes and farmlands after the rains subsided.

Residents reported that eight villages had flooded since rains began in the second week of August, and said they had never seen the water level reach such heights. Many children were required to travel to school by boat and some families built lofts under their roofs to take advantage of the last dry living space.

“In the past we also faced flooding in our village but not like now,” said a resident of Nidon village. “Since they constructed the new road for [development activities led by] Zaykabar Company, Pacific Link Cement Industries Ltd., and June Industry Co. Ltd., we can see very clearly that the flooding is worse than before. I think the road blocks the flow of water [causing it] to flow back into the village. Now we are in need of food supplies.”

The storms in late July also triggered massive flooding, with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs counting 33,409 displaced people in Karen State and Agence France-Presse reporting that 4,700 people in Mon State were temporarily without homes.

Written by HURFOM · Filed Under News