Ma Khin Ma Nyo, mother of six children, is a woman farmer whose home was destroyed and livelihood washed away when Cyclone Nargis hit her village in 2008.
Afterwards Ma Khin, from Tauk Kya village, described the horror and surreal atmosphere of the aftermath: ''The next day there were so many corpses, just floating in the river and stuck on trees. Bushes seemed like water hyacinth plants floating in the river during rainy season''.
There were so many corpses, just floating in the river and stuck on trees
She explained that though many people died in Tauk Kya village, there were even more deaths in the surrounding villages, since they didn’t have brick buildings where people could shelter during the cyclone.
Ma Khin and her family lived on their ‘Le’ (paddy field) which provided them with clothing, schooling and the basic needs of the family, but the Cyclone destroyed all the crops. “After the cyclone all I have left is just two thousand kyat (1USD=1000ks) in my blouse," she said. “The day after the Cyclone I had to ask for rice from those people in the village whose rice had not been damaged or lost.”
I had to ask for rice from those people in the village whose rice had not been damaged or lost
She collected some rice and made it into noodles and sold noodle salad in the village, which made 5000 ks(1USD=1000ks). In the meantime, villagers could not buy food because all the food stock in all the nearby villages had been washed away by the waves and the closest town is about 25km away.
Ma Khin therefore needed to start re-growing her paddy fields as soon as possible but she lacked the resources. Before the cyclone, she owned four buffaloes but only one survived and she said that the dogs started biting the cattle – traumatised from the cyclone – which she said was very scary.In addition, her sick husband was unable to help as he suffered from a hernia and had not been able to work for three years.
Villagers in the affected area received emergency aid through local ActionAid partner Pact.
