Caritas ofrece ayuda a las víctimas de las peores inundaciones en Myanmar

La lluvia monzónica cayó rápida y fuertemente cuando empezó la temporada de lluvias en el norte y occidente de Myanmar en julio. Aquí la gente es resiliente y se prepara lo mejor que puede; a menudo hay inundaciones, que dañan las viviendas y las cosechas. Sin embargo, son muy pobres y en algunas comunidades quienes han podido se han ido a buscar trabajo, dejando atrás a los jóvenes y a los ancianos; vulnerables a la explotación, al hambre y a las enfermedades.

Las inundaciones de 2015 pasarán a la historia de Myanmar como las peores en décadas. Los registros del gobierno sugieren que no han sido tan serias en un siglo. Más de un millón de personas han sido seriamente afectadas. 100 personas perdieron la vida cuando las aguas del delta del Irrawaddy inundaron casas y campos, y los desprendimientos de tierras ocasionaron estragos en el estado norteño de Chin. En agosto, luego de que el ciclón Komen también azotara Myanmar, el gobierno declaró estado de emergencia en varias regiones y pidió ayuda internacional. En 2008, cuando el tifón Nargis cobró las vidas de más de 130.000 personas, el gobierno rechazó toda ayuda exterior.

Caritas Karuna – conocida también como KMSS – es la organización Caritas local. Entró en acción en las áreas más afectadas, en donde tiene una fuerte presencia en las bases y una red sólida. Francis Lynnpard es el Jefe del Programa de Emergencia de Caritas en Myanmar. Él nos dice: “Gracias a que tenemos una cadena de 17 oficinas alrededor del país, pudimos poner manos a la obra de inmediato. Enviamos Equipos de Respuesta a Emergencias a las diócesis de Pyay, Yangon, Pathein, Kalay y Hakha. En todas estas áreas, las comunidades y los gobiernos locales confían en nosotros, además del apoyo de Caritas Internationalis siempre que hemos pedido ayuda. También hemos aprendido mucho acerca de respuesta a emergencias desde la devastación que provocó el ciclón Nargis hacer 7 años y teníamos planes de acción”.

In Yangon Diocese – home to the biggest city – staff and volunteers welcomed people evacuated from their homes into temporary shelters in churches, pagodas and schools. Caritas went out in canoes to warn people of coming flood waters in Pathein in the far west of the Irrawaddy Delta and evacuated them in makeshift boats. A mobile health clinic with a doctor and 3 nurses tended to people in 15 badly affected villages. Close to the border with India in Kalay Diocese, Caritas rescued over 700 people from 2 remote villages when a flash flood threatened to overwhelm them. At the hospital there, Caritas helped to move patients and medicines away from the floodwaters coming into the wards and dispensary.

Now, Caritas Karuna has geared up to a full emergency response programme with backing from Caritas Internationalis, providing food, clean water and shelter for 120 000 people in 6 diocese. Caritas teams are taking supplies out by barge and canoe to the remotest villages; they’ve been especially hard hit as they were totally cut off when bridges were destroyed by strong winds and raging waters.

The grave damage to infrastructure is making access difficult for humanitarian teams in many areas though; roads are blocked by landslides and debris in the water can make navigating rivers hazardous. There’s also been a knock on effect on the availability and price of relief supplies, so Caritas must spend more to get the goods it needs for people who in many cases have lost everything. Some of those who have been able to return to their homes have found all of their belongings ruined from being buried in mud. Others are struggling to actually identify their fields ; the water level is still very high in parts of the Irrawaddy Delta and people still have to travel everywhere by boat.

Hunger and food security is now a massive concern. The Irrawaddy Delta is Myanmar’s rice bowl and it flooded badly. Countrywide, 1.3 million acres were underwater at the full extent of the flood. Seeds, livestock, grain stocks and other provisions are all lost; the planting season is badly disrupted. The humanitarian need is going to be substantial here for some time to come. Francis Lynnpard says, “Floods and landslides have brought rough sand into the paddies and farmers can’t re-cultivate without removing this and mounds of other debris, such as wood, concrete and metal. They just can’t plant the winter crop. In parts of Chin state the villages are uninhabitable. People are down to zero status and faced with a spiraling level of indebtedness.”

In the villages of Sit Pin Gyi and Gaung Gyi, Caritas Karuna’s Father Pious explains to the patiently waiting crowd how the distribution of relief supplies would work. Everyone would be registered and then rice and cooking oil given out. There were also buckets to help with sanitation and a water purifier for each family. Staff showed them how to make river water safe to drink. As sickness goes hand in hand with flooding, stopping the spread of water-borne diseases is crucial so that longer-term reconstruction and recovery can get underway.

But for Francis Lynnpard, the Emergency Programme Manager for Caritas in Myanmar, there is another, menacing, worry – migration. “If people can’t find alternative sources of income, they migrate, both within Myanmar and over its borders. They are vulnerable to trafficking and I fear that tensions with other communities will result. Caritas must help them with cash grants in addition to the basic emergency humanitarian relief. But we have limited resources too – it’s hard to know how we can keep up with the demand for help.”