About 8,700 civilians displaced by ongoing armed conflict in Rakhine state and living outdoors require emergency shelter before the onset of the annual monsoon season because a local Buddhist monastery cannot accommodate them, RFA reported quoting a local lawmaker and the monastery’s abbot.

Local administrators, lawmakers, and civil society organizations are working together to build 500 living quarters for the IDPs on five acres of township land before annual torrential rains begin in late May, said Khin Saw Wai, a lawmaker from Rathedaung township.

Each living quarter will consist of 10 units in a row, with bamboo floors and thatch roofs, she said, but added that construction can begin only after the April Thingyan holiday.