Cyclone-affected homemakers struggle to get by

Khin Sein’s children stood speechless as their mother, her head held low, entered the makeshift hut along the banks of the River Pyapon in Myanmar’s cyclone-affected Ayeyarwady delta. 

“I couldn't get the money, children,” she said point blank.

The forty-five-year-old had spent much of the day trying to convince money lenders to loan her what she needed so that her children could attend school - and she could put rice on the table. But that didn’t happen.

Despite exorbitant interest rates hovering at around 30 percent per month, Khin Sein was viewed as too much of a bad risk.

She and her husband together had once earned close to US$85 a month; he as a fisherman, she working at the local grocery. That all changed two months ago when Cyclone Nargis struck, leaving over 138,000 people dead or missing and affecting 2.4 million of the delta’s 4.2 million inhabitants. Within seconds, close to one million people in the delta, as well as neighbouring Yangon Division lost their livelihoods.

A widespread problem

There are scores of homemakers like Khin Sein in the village of Outkwin in Pyapon, one of the worst hit areas, as well as throughout the delta, now struggling to get by.

Most village residents had worked in the once thriving fishing industry, only to see their household incomes vanish in the blink of an eye.

Photo: Contributor/IRIN

A woman selling vegetables in Labutta. Food prices throughout the Ayeyarwady Delta have risen in the wake of Cyclone Nargis

Over two thirds of all the fishing vessels in the village had been damaged or sunk in the tidal surge that swept the area. It would take months, if not longer, for most families to recover.

Some cyclone survivors were managing to get by on what meagre earnings they had; some have become dependent on goodwill and handouts, whilst others were getting into debt.

Residents of Outkwin said they received rice and oil twice a month from the local authorities, but complained about the small quantity.

“Going to a money lender is the one and only way for us to get cash,” explained 28-year-old Soe Soe, another local housemaker. But convincing them that they will be able to repay that debt later is another matter altogether. “Even if we show our willingness to borrow at the agreed interest rate, it is now harder to convince them [money lenders],” she said.

She has now borrowed more than she can afford in an effort to buy rice, as well as pay the medical costs for her young son born on 3 May and named Nargis by her neighbours.

“The amount of money… I borrowed now exceeds my husband's income,” admitted Soe Soe, whose husband earns just $30 per month from fishing.

Another woman and mother-of-four, whose husband was also a fisherman, said she could no longer endure the economic hardship and was considering migrating elsewhere for work: “Life is desperate here. Who can say that there might not be another storm that will sweep us away next time,” 27-year-old Zin Mar asked. “Now we have no extra income. It's been a long time since I went to Pyapon market.”

Reduced purchasing power

Since Nargis, the buying power of local residents has reduced, while the price of food and other basic commodities has gone up. Although prices have stabilised recently, many commodity prices remain significantly higher than before the cyclone, or the same as in Yangon, the country’s largest city and former capital.

Photo: Lynn Maung/IRIN

Baby Nargis was born on 3 May - the same day the devastating cyclone struck

Rice prices in Pyapon are the same as in Yangon, though the price should normally be cheaper as the delta is one of the country’s major rice bowls.

According to the UN in June, of the 1.3 million hectares of paddy in the cyclone-hit areas, 60 percent had been affected by the storm. About 200,000 hectares were too damaged for planting, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said.

But with rice now being brought in from the north or areas unaffected by the storm, Pyapon’s rice traders say the price of rice has doubled. Before Nargis, one kilo of rice was 25 US cents. Today it is 50 cents.

Other commodities have also been badly hit. The pre-cyclone price of a kilo of salt was 23 US cents. Today it is close to $1.

Despite the price rises and challenges ahead, many housemakers in the delta hope the worse is now behind them. “If we could survive the deadly storm and tidal surge, this current hardship is nothing for us,” said Soe Soe, as she smiled at her son Nargis nearby.

lm/ds/cb