VZCZCXRO9099
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH RUEHTRO
DE RUEHGO #0532/01 1850922
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 030922Z JUL 08
FM AMEMBASSY RANGOON
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7872
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 1330
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 4862
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 8418
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 5980
RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 3879
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1833
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 RANGOON 000532 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP AND IO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID SENV PREF TBIO BM PHUM EAGR VM
SUBJECT: LABUTTA TOWNSHIP: LIVELIHOODS A TOP CONCERN 
 
REF: A. RANGOON 455 
     ¶B. RANGOON 514 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary.  On June 18 and 20, USAID/OFDA shelter 
expert and Poloff traveled to the Irrawaddy Delta region to 
assess recovery efforts.  Six weeks after Cyclone Nargis hit, 
most people had sufficient shelter, either rebuilt from 
indigenous materials or plastic sheeting or living in 
communal housing or refugee camps.  While drinking water 
appeared adequate, sanitation around the camps and in many 
villages remained a concern.  People complained of food 
shortages, especially of food other than rice and onions, but 
there were no reports of major health problems other than 
severe depression.  Farmers have not yet restarted rice 
cultivation, even as the end of the planting season draws 
near.  As people begin to rebuild their lives, relief efforts 
must focus on restarting rice cultivation and providing 
people with incomes to help them help themselves.  End 
Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) On June 18 to 20, USAID/OFDA shelter expert and 
Poloff traveled to Labutta Township and visited two refugee 
camps and four villages.  Poloff had visited the two camps, 
Three Mile Camp and Five Mile Camp, on a previous trip to the 
delta region (Ref A).  We also traveled with the Adventist 
Relief and Development Agency (ADRA) to four villages: 
Hlawza, Theitbangonegyi, Pyingdaungdwin, and Seitgalegone. 
Cyclone Nargis affected all of the villages differently, but 
all the villagers were recovering from the storm, regardless 
of the amount of aid received.  The only village we saw that 
was not actively rebuilding was Seitgalegone, where 
approximately one third of its former 150 inhabitants died in 
the storm. 
 
Shelter 
------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Regardless of the amount of relief aid received, all 
villages had made strides rebuilding shelter in the six weeks 
since the storm hit.  ADRA brought supplies such as rice, 
plastic sheeting, and other building materials to Hlawza and 
Theitbangonegyi in June.  Villagers in both constructed 
numerous new shelters since the storm, especially out of 
USAID plastic sheeting and occasionally even from USAID 
boxes.  Villages that received little or no aid, such as 
Pyindaungdwin and Seitgalegone, have rebuilt many of their 
shelters from indigenous materials.  The village head in 
Pyindaungdwin told us that even though construction costs 
have risen since the storm due to shortages of building 
supplies, people were able to rebuild their homes from new 
materials for around USD 50.  Some people in the affected 
villages still live in large groups in concrete buildings 
that survived the storm, but we saw some rebuilding in each 
village that we visited. 
 
Water and Sanitation 
-------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Despite numerous calls from INGOs to provide more 
drinking water to victims of Cyclone Nargis, villages and 
camps that we visited appeared to have adequate potable 
water.  People living in villages that received plastic 
sheeting had created cachement ponds for rain water to 
collect clean water.  Other villages used the same methods 
that they used prior to the storm, such as collecting water 
in clay pots from the eaves of their homes or boiling water 
from streams and rivers.  INGOs provided water purification 
systems to refugee camps, which often supplied inhabitants 
with better quality water than they had in their native 
villages. 
 
¶5. (SBU) On the other hand, sanitation, particularly in camps 
and hard-hit villages, remained a concern.  Very few drainage 
systems existed, and pools of water provided a potential 
breeding ground for diseases.  Lack of sanitation awareness 
on the part of many villagers contributed to this problem. 
For example, we observed one woman dipping bathing and 
 
RANGOON 00000532  002 OF 003 
 
 
cooking water out of a stream near a latrine.  Furthermore, 
many villages, including Theitbangonegyi, had done very 
little clean-up since the storm, only moving debris out of 
roads and homes.  As a result, piles of rotting wood and 
other debris littered the village and contributed to public 
health hazards. 
 
The Problem of Finding Food 
--------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Most of the areas that we visited continued to 
suffer food shortages.  Donors provided people living in 
camps with rice, beans, and onions, but they had to buy any 
other food they needed at elevated prices from sellers in 
Labutta.  Many refugees told us that food prices doubled 
since the storm, and since they have no source of income, 
they face significant problems in obtaining other staples in 
the Burmese diet, including fish paste and chili.  Hlawza and 
Theitbangongyi faced similar shortages.  The INGO Adventist 
Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) brought supplies of rice 
and onions, but other commodities, including vegetables, 
remained absent.  People in the tiny village of Seitgalegone 
survived almost solely on fish and indigenous plants. 
Villagers told us that they had received only a few tins of 
rice since the storm. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Pyindaungdwin was the exception in the food 
shortages.  The village head told us that its proximity to 
Labutta (thirty minutes by Zodiac speedboat) allowed traders 
to bring rice, beans, spices, and vegetables from outside of 
the village.  Nevertheless, its warehouses are still filled 
with rotting rice and villagers have not yet restarted rice 
cultivation. 
 
Health and Well-being 
---------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) None of the villages or camps that we visited had 
experienced any major disease outbreaks.  Medecins Sans 
Frontiers (MSF) workers in the camps noted that many people 
suffer from severe depression, and camp residents complained 
that they would be happier if they could restart their lives 
and find a way to make money.  The attitudes of people living 
in the villages were significantly better than in the camps. 
People in villages were working to improve their situations 
and had hope of an income. 
 
Livelihoods and the Way Forward in the Delta 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) The primary concern among residents of camps and 
villages was how they would repair their livelihoods.  Most 
people in camps told us they wanted to return home as soon as 
possible; fear of starvation and lack of funds to travel were 
the only factors keeping them in camps.  A few people said 
they never wanted to return, but they appeared to represent a 
small minority; income concerns played a large part in their 
decisions.  In villages, most shopkeepers and fishermen had 
returned to normal business. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Villagers showed very few signs of restarting rice 
cultivation, which along with fishing and salt production 
represented the primary occupation in villages.  They lacked 
equipment and seeds to restart cultivation in a meaningful 
way.  An official from the Ministry of Industry (1) in 
Theitbangonegyi showed us tractors that the ministry had 
brought to sell to local farmers on an installment basis for 
900,000 kyat each (USD 762).  Under the plan, farmers would 
pay the first installment of 300,000 kyat (USD 254) after six 
months and then pay the remainder over the following two and 
a half years.  (Note: Most farmers make far less than 300,000 
kyat per year.) In addition, the number of tractors was 
insufficient to till all of the land before the end of the 
planting season in July.  The official acknowledged that 
there was very little time to start the projects that the GOB 
had proposed, especially because few people were interested 
in using the tractors. 
 
RANGOON 00000532  003 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶11. (SBU) The GOB also brought draft animals, such as water 
buffalo, to the area to replace those lost in the storm. 
However, many villagers complained that the animals were 
weak, too young to plow, or did not understand the commands 
in the local language.  We have learned that many of the 
animals came from Karen and Shan States, were forced 
contributions from farmers there, and had not received food 
or water during the several days of travel from Shan or Karen 
States.  We saw several such animals in the villages we 
visited, none of which were being used. A villager in Hlawza 
told us that several animals in his village had already died. 
 
¶12. (SBU) In order to provide an alternative source of 
income, ADRA started a cash-for-work program where people 
could earn a daily wage in return for assisting in clean-up 
and rebuilding activities.  The UNDP, in a similar effort in 
Pyindaungdwin, gave 30,000 kyat (USD 26) each to several 
families as a grant to restart their livelihoods.  Both of 
these programs were very small and still in their initial 
stages at the time of our visit. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶13. (SBU) Six weeks after Cyclone Nargis hit, people are 
rebuilding their lives regardless of how much aid they have 
received.  Pyindaungdwin villagers, who have received very 
little from the outside world, were doing the most to rebuild 
their village and restart their livelihoods.  Villagers have 
moved from worrying about their daily food needs to how they 
can feed their families in the coming months.  At this point, 
international aid in the form of cash would help them rebuild 
homes and livelihoods.  Cash enables them to help themselves, 
it causes less distortion to local markets, and gives a sense 
of possibilities to those suffering from depression and 
hopelessness. 
VILLAROSA