Since 7 August the UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency) has delivered household goods, but no food to flood victims in Maungdaw, Rakhine State, according to the flood victims.
Anwer from Bomu Para in Maungdaw said he had received one set of glasses, two pots, a mosquito net, a mat and a plastic sheet from the UNHCR.
He said: “I need food for my family, not household items. My family have been starving for the last two days.
"I am a rickshaw puller and now I can’t work on the road as all the roads were damaged and all the people are facing the same [problems] as me."
According to Jangir, a local leader from Padin Village, most Rohingyas need food as they are starving after water entered their houses and ruined all their stored food.
He said: "The authorities are also not giving any aid to Rohingya villages and we have only received whatever food our community can give us. The UNHCR only carries out field visits three days a week, on the other four days [of the week] the UNHCR stay in their office. How can the UNHCR know what people need.?"
He added: "The people need shelters to stay in as their houses were damaged by heavy winds and seawater from high tides. [We] need food to save our lives. No one has come to give us any help."
An officer from Maungdaw said that at present the Trade Association of Maungdaw is selling 50kg sacks of rice for 22,000 kyats, the same price that it is being sold for in the local market.
Hamid, a school teacher from Maungdaw, said that the Rohingyas cannot afford to buy rice from the local market or the Trade Association because they are day labourers and have been unable to get any work since Cyclone Komen struck at the end of July.
Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI
