BURMA: SOUTHERN DELTA VICTIMS STILL NEGLECTED

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RANGOON 000477

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP, IO, AND USAID/OFDA; PACOM FOR FPA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/20/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM BM
SUBJECT: BURMA: SOUTHERN DELTA VICTIMS STILL NEGLECTED


Classified By: Pol Officer Sean O'Neill for Reasons 1.4 (b) & (d)

SUMMARY
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1. (SBU) Summary. An Embassy Rangoon small grantee
recently returned from the lower delta reported a lack of any
organized relief efforts in much of the area south of
Labutta. While the Burma Army was camped nearby, so far
soldiers had not provided any significant assistance to
cyclone victims since the storm. Our grantee told us
dehydration, malnutrition, and psychological trauma were the
main health problems they encountered. According to their
assessment, clean water is the top priority, and digging
wells may be the best way to provide this.

A MISSION OF MERCY
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2. (C) The Karen Medical Consortium (the consortium),a
group of local medical clinics led by Dr. Vernette Myint
Myint Sann (Dr. Vernette) and her husband Saw Bla Htoo,
recently received an Embassy small grant to conduct a
five-day medical relief mission to the Southern Irrawaddy
Delta. Dr. Vernette reported a medical team consisting of
eight doctors, seven nurses, and nine staff members traveled
by boat to 14 villages southeast of Labutta between May 30
and June 3 (see para 8 for a list of locations visited). The
team provided medical care to the villagers, using their
rented boat as a floating clinic. Dr. Vernette provided
poloff and P/E staff with a briefing of the consortium's
mission.


3. (C) Dr. Vernette and Saw Bla Htoo are ethnic Karen born
in Burma. They now reside in Singapore where she practices
medicine and he runs a business. Dr. Vernette returns to
Burma several times a year to practice medicine at a private
Rangoon clinic. They returned to Singapore on June 11, but
intend to continue their relief works in Burma within the
month.

LACK OF RELIEF EFFORTS
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4. (SBU) The consortium's team members saw no significant,
organized relief efforts underway in any of the villages they
visited. While the consortium reported elements of the Burma
Army's 66th Light Infantry Division were camped at Theit Pan
Kone Gyi, approximately 20 miles southeast of Labutta, so far
the military had not engaged in any significant relief
efforts in the area. Some local residents told consortium
workers that soldiers had provided just one liter of water to
each family in the month since the storm and had been
sporadically distributing 100 grams of cooking oil per family
each week. Other families said they had received nothing.


5. (C) Local residents reported that soldiers camped in
Their Pan Kone Gyi had commandeered privately-owned boats
from local residents to ferry military supplies to and from
Labutta. However, based on the reports of local residents,
Dr. Vernette said there was no evidence the supplies being
ferried were derived from international donors, but were more
likely military-owned supplies. The problem, she said, was
that the military was not using these boats to deliver relief
supplies to these remote villages, she did not however
believe that the military was misdirecting donated relief
supplies for their own use.

MEDICAL PROBLEMS
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6. (SBU) Relief team members treated numerous residents for
dehydration and malnutrition, which they described as a
significant problem in the area. Clean water was in very
short supply. Residents complained to team members that most
of their fresh water sources had been contaminated with salt
water or dead bodies since the storm. Food was also in short
supply, with most sustenance derived from poor-quality rice

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resulting in protein and vitamin deficiencies. Nonetheless,
the relief team observed relatively few cases of severe
diarrheal diseases, as compared with dehydration and
malnutrition. Team members also reported observing a
significant number of people afflicted with "general
weakness," which they described to be various degrees of
clinical depression and post-traumatic stress. One man they
encountered, who had lost his entire family in the cyclone,
had been living in a tree hammock since mid May. Despite
being severely emaciated, he refused the relief team's pleas
to come down for treatment, te
lling them he had to wait there for his family to return
before he could join them.


7. (SBU) Based on their observations, the consortium's
leaders believed the most pressing concern in the southern
delta was the lack of potable water. Dehydration would kill
more people more quickly than anything else, they noted.
Delivering bottled water would be a quick short-term fix;
they suggested that building rainwater collection systems and
digging wells would be the most cost-effective, long-term
solution to the problem.

LOCATIONS VISITED
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8. (C) The Karen Medical Consortium Team visited the
following locations between May 30 and June 3, 2008:

May 30:
- Ayoda Village
- Ahtat Pyone Village

May 31:
- The Kha Lo Hpa To Village
- Pe Taut Kone Village

June 1:
- Ta Lu Hpa To Village
- Theit Pan Kone Gyi Village

June 2:
- Pone Ka Mar Village
- Thin Gan Gone Village
- Hpo Nya Ko Village
- Htan Pin Chaung Village
- Kan Nyi Naung Village
- Ye Twin Kone Village
- Set Su Village
- Be Tut Village

June 3:
- Labutta town
- Pathein

COMMENT
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9. (C) Our grantee paints a disturbing picture of a
neglected population left to fend for itself in the wake of
Cyclone Nargis. The people of the Southern Delta were among
the poorest and most vulnerable in Burma before the storm,
and were hit hardest by the cyclone. Nonetheless, they
appear to have received the least help from the regime since
Nargis destroyed their homes and lives. Our grantee was able
to provide life-saving treatment to victims in 14 villages
with just over $10,000. The Than Shwe regime has spent many
times that on propaganda safeguarding their recent
referendum, but not their own people.
VILLAROSA