IDPs assemble shelters in razed camp

Following the fire in the camp on the outskirts of the state capital Sittwe on May 3, a spokesperson for the Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Department told The Myanmar Times that authorities were arranging 448 temporary tents for those affected by the blaze.

But when Myanmar Times reporters visited yesterday afternoon, there was no sign of any tents and families were facing a second night in the open as rain clouds gathered overhead.

Residents, the majority of whom are of the ethnic group identifying themselves as Rohingya that the government officially refer to as "Bengali", are trapped in IDP camps under nationally imposed restrictions of movement, were doing their best to construct some kind of shelter from bits of corrugated iron salvaged from the debris. (Courtesy of Myanmar Times)