A major opposition party in Arakan State released a statement today concerning Cyclone Giri that slammed Arakan State, western Burma on October 22, 2010 and more than 175,000 people been affected and left no less than 70,795 people homeless. The storm slammed into the coastal state of Rakhine on Friday with winds of up to 120 miles per hour and sea levels swelled by as much as 12 feet.
The party’s statement said that towns were badly hit, with the power cut off and the sea wall damaged. And about 75 percent of Kyaukpyu, 90 percent of Myaebon and 80 percent of the crops in Sittwe towns were destroyed and the death tolls have climbed at least 84. Therefore, the people in the path of the cyclone areas are in an urgent need for food, water and shelter after the storm left.
The Rakine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP) is the only opposition ethnic party in the region competing with junta's proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party and another pro-regime party, the National Unity Party. The chairman of the party, Dr. Aye Maung, said that a fair election could not take place in the cyclone affected areas, Myebon, Kyaukphyu and Munanung Townships because of the humanitarian crisis there.
As the cyclone was coincident with the November election, The RNDP called on Tuesday for the postponement of the Nov. 7 election in three townships of Arakan State which was devastated by Cyclone Giri.
“Villages were destroyed and whole houses were carried away in the winds,” said Dr. Aye Maung. People have no place to live and no food to eat. So how can people there participate in the elections just a few days from now? It is totally impossible for a fair election to take place as scheduled, he added.
Another opposition party leader Thu Wai, chairman of the Democratic Party (Myanmar), said he would support the appeal for a postponement. “The election should not take place in those affected areas because we heard many people died there.”
On Sunday, Prime Minister Thein Sein made no response when the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Rangoon, Bishow Parajuli, told him that the international community was ready and willing to help the cyclone victims, during a ceremony marking the 65th anniversary of the UN, according to UN sources. Other Rangoon sources said that the UN’s international staff and international NGO staff are not allowed to enter the cyclone-affected areas and are restricted to Sittwe, the state's capital.
Local residents said that there was an urgent need for food, water and shelter after the storm left and also a local government official confirmed the urgent need for emergency assistance, particularly in Kyaukpyu's Zone 11, an area of more than 1,200 houses were destroyed and with a population of around 10,000 that was directly in the path of the cyclone.
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