Cyclone Survivors' Exodus To Thailand As No Future Back In Burma?

Sitting in a house where she is temporarily staying in Mae Sot on the Thai-Burma border, Ma Gyee, a 28-year-old Burmese cyclone survivor, speaks in a low, heartrending voice:

“The aid sits at the compounds of the local township authorities,” she said. “We, the survivors, have received just a drop.” Ma Gyee is among some 100 Burmese cyclone refugees from the Irrawaddy delta and Rangoon Division who recently arrived in Mae Sot, located opposite the Burmese town of Myawaddy.

Some came to Mae Sot to try to collect donations to take back to their villages. Others came looking for jobs and a new home. Ma Gyee said her hope for a better future now rests on giving her two children and 17-year-old brother a better life. She doesn’t plan to return to her home in Bogalay in the Irrawaddy delta, heavily damaged by Cyclone Nargis.

Looking at her younger brother, who sat close by, she said: “He’s now studying here. Two of my children also are at schools here for migrant children. I know that there is a much better life here than in the Irrawaddy delta.”