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Amid major flood disaster in Thailand, aiding Burmese refugees and migrants on the margins

By Peter Biro
BANGKOK, Thailand - 25 Oct 2011 -  

Thailand floods

  • A man walks flooded streets in Bangkok, Thailand; IRC protects Burmese refugees
  • Women use makeshift boat in flooded Bangkok, Thailand; IRC provides clean water
  • A man on flooded street in Bangkok, Thailand; IRC works with Thai government
  • Burmese refugees take shelter in a flooded building in Thailand
  • IRC staff directs Burmese refugees to food, clean water in flooded Bangkok
  • Bangkok, Thailand flooded, the IRC protects vulnerable refugees, migrant workers
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As flood waters rise in Thailand, Burmese refugees and migrant workers are especially vulnerable. The IRC is working with the Thai government to ensure this marginalized community has access to shelter, clean water, food and other basic services.

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Burmese residents in Wat Kan Ham. The building is surrounded by dirty flood water. Photo: Peter Biro/IRC.

Burmese residents in Wat Kan Ham. The building is surrounded by dirty flood water. (Photo: Peter Biro/IRC)

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Story and photos by Peter Biro

As Thailand battles its worst flooding in 50 years, the International Rescue Committee is offering support to Burmese refugees and migrant workers who are being affected by the devastation. 

“This is a major disaster and the Burmese community is among the hardest hit,” said Christine Petrie, the IRC’s deputy program director in Thailand.
 
Some two million Burmese, refugees and migrants, live and work in Thailand.
 
“The Burmese are already among the poorest people in the country. To make matters worse, many of them don’t have or have lost their documents, which they fear they might need to prove legal status and obtain emergency relief.” 
 
The IRC provides healthcare and other vital services to nearly 140,000 Burmese refugees in nine refugee camps along the Thailand-Myanmar border and works to improve access to health care and education for tens of thousands of Burmese refugees and migrants living elsewhere in Thailand.  
 
Thailand has endured three months of heavy monsoon rains, which have killed more than 350 people and damaged the homes and livelihoods of an estimated nine million people. 
 
On October 24, an IRC team led by Petrie surveyed the damage in Ayutthaya Province, a manufacturing center north of Bangkok. Hundreds of factories have been inundated and thousands of mostly Burmese workers have lost their jobs and income, Petrie reports. Streets are drowning in black water and people are paddling makeshift boats in flooded neighborhoods, she added.  
 
Burmese refugees and migrants are a neglected and marginalized sector of Thai society. To ensure that they receive aid and attention, the IRC is pressing government officials and agencies to provide flood-stranded refugees and migrants with food, shelter and basic services. 
 
In Wat Kan Ham, a residential area in Ayutthaya Province with a large number of Burmese residents, more than 300 Burmese refugees are living in a six-story apartment block, which is now sitting in a lake of flood water, littered with floating garbage and debris. Residents must wade through filthy waist-deep water to gain access to their homes. 
 
“It’s hard now,” said one refugee woman who lost her job when the factory where she worked was destroyed by flooding. “The company still owes me my last paycheck. We must rely on donations now to survive. If I don’t find another job soon I will be forced to leave for another province.”
 
The IRC is concerned about the spread of disease and other health hazards that could result from contaminated water, said Petrie.
 
“Our priority right now is to make sure the Burmese are provided with food and water and to help them move to government centers that offer sanitary living conditions.”