Child dies as snow blankets Kachin refugee border camps: NGO At least one Kachin child has died and many people are seriously ill as heavy snow and dropping temperatures worsen conditions for Kachin refugees living in camps near Kachin State’s northern border with China. Very cold weather has brought new misery for refugees in the refugee camp located at the Sino-Myanmar border post No.6, the area controlled by the Kachin Independence Organization, and the health of children has become bad, U Doi Pi Sar, an official in charge of the Kachin war refugee relief committee, told Mizzima on January 11. Thousands of Kachin civilians continue to live in refugee camps as a result of fighting between the Myanmar army and units of the Kachin Independence Army or KIA. The children in the Hpayee refugee camp in the area controlled by KIA’s battalions 32 and 33 have been suffering from very bad coughs and diarrhea, so they were taken to the Hting-Shyung Hospital on the Chinese side of the border, U Doi Pi Sar said. Northern Myanmar is not the only area suffering from a particularly severe winter. Large areas of Asia and the Middle East are reporting low temperatures and heavy snowfall in several areas. “At the Hpayee refugee camp located at the border post No.6, many people developed fever due to the bitter cold. They were unable to receive medical treatment in the camp, so some patients were taken to hospital in Hting-Shyung,” said U Doi Pi Sar. “Yesterday, I heard that a child died the day before yesterday.” The area suffered from heavy snowfall, and therefore the refugees were encountering difficulties in getting enough clean water, U Doi Pi Sar said. There are more than 900 refugees in Hpayee refugee camp, and the KIO has opened clinics and schools for primary school students, according to U Doi Pi Sar. The Kachin Baptist Convention has been providing food and clothes for the refugees, so there is no serious difficulty on this level, he said. But, as Kaw Nan, the chairperson of the Kachin Baptist Committee in Ying Jiang, Yunnan Province, China points out, the camp is desperately in need of medicine. Similarly, severely cold weather has set in the area of border post No.8 and the ground is covered by ice and snow two feet thick, making it hard for refugees to travel, according to Bawk La, who has been helping at this camp. “Nobody suffers from fever in our border post No.8. But rain and snow have fallen in the area and we have encountered a big freeze and therefore cannot go outside. We are unable to use motorcycles or cars. And we have to heat up ice to melt it to provide water,” he said.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 16:01:06 +0000