Vice Chairman of State Administration Council Deputy Prime Minister Vice-Senior General Soe Win addresses coordination meeting on Rakhine State natural disaster rehabilitation Vice Chairman of State Administration Council Deputy Prime Minister Vice- Senior General Soe Win addresses coordination meeting on Rakhine State natural disaster rehabilitation
NAY PYI TAW June 14
A coordination meeting on natural disaster rehabilitation in Rakhine State was held at the Rakhine State Government Office this evening and Chairman of the National Natural Disaster Management Committee Vice Chairman of the State Administration Council Deputy Prime Minister Vice-Senior General Soe Win delivered an address at the meeting.
Also present at the meeting were members of the SAC Admiral Tin Aung San and Dr Aung Kyaw Min, union ministers, the chief minister of Rakhine State, senior military officers from the Office of the Commander-in-Chief, the commander of Western Command, deputy ministers and departmental officials.
First, Union Minister Lt-Gen Tun Tun Naung and Chief Minister U Htein Lin of Rakhine State reported to the Vice-Senior General on implementation of the instructions of the SAC Chairman Prime Minister, inspections made at disaster-hit areas to carry rescue efforts and to deliver aid, damage caused by the storm, efforts to restore the communication sector, repairs of cable networks in Sitter, measures taken by the electricity sector to resume electricity supply as soon as possible, distribution of potable water, measures taken for the education, health and road and bridge, agriculture, livestock breeding and irrigation sectors, rehabilitation of losses and damage, distribution of relief items and donations received.
Then, union ministers and deputy ministers reported to the Vice-Senior General on requirements for relief, reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts for disaster-hit Rakhine State of relevant sectors.
Afterward, the Vice-Senior General coordinated the needs for the reports and delivered a speech, saying tangible success has been achieved thanks to the efforts of relevant departments which are carrying out rehabilitation efforts and cooperation of local residents in Rakhine State including in Maungtaw and Buthidaung and responsible officials are required to maintain the momentum before appreciating the efforts of the officials.
In connection with agriculture, measures have been taken to distribute paddy seeds that are compatible with the region in a timely manner and it is necessary for local farmers to grow them in accordance with four methods of growing paddy and to make 85 tractors from the Department of Mechanized Farming available in necessary townships in Rakhine for monsoon paddy while plans are underway to send more hand tractors.
As for foodstuffs, measures have been taken to enable all the people in Rakhine State to consume sufficient food and it is necessary for the state government to exert efforts to carry out manageable level agriculture and livestock breeding activities to produce meat, fish, eggs and vegetables in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation to prevent rising food prices. The Rakhine State Government is required to coordinate with relevant ministries for required capital investment, construction of buildings to carry out livestock breeding in farm systems, technologies and inputs as soon as possible. According to principles, if the demand exceeds the supply, commodity prices will rise spontaneously. As a result,it is necessary to take measures to prevent rising commodity prices on the one hand and to supply sufficient meat, fish, eggs and vegetables sufficiently on the other hand. Such efforts amount to implementing a cash for work program. Only when security of food, water and basic needs is guaranteed, will local residents be able to cultivate monsoon paddy effectively.
In connection with the communication sectors, 892 out of 1,233 radio stations have been repaired and as about 99.03 percent of the tasks have been carried out, it is necessary to make efforts to complete all repair works. In the electricity sector, Ponnagyun-Sittwe No 1 power line resumed electricity supply to 66-KV sub-power station (1) in Sitter on 6 June and Setyokya sub-power station (2) in Sittwe on 8 June and have supplied electricity to 33 wards in Sittwe at 100 percent through 245 transformers. The 10/0.4 KV sub-power station in Ponnagyun was able to resume electricity supply to all downtown wards through 29 transformers on 7 June. It is necessary to exert efforts to resume electricity supply in the remaining townships in Rakhine State by the first week of July.
To make clean drinking water available, the Rural Development Department has deployed a tank vehicle, six mobile water purifying vehicles, each of which can purify 800 gallons of water per hour in Sittwe, Minibar and Yathetaung, supplying 32,000 gallons of water every day in eight hour. Further measures are also being taken to supply sufficient potable water.
It is necessary to distribute 210 life straws and mobile pumps, which have already arrived at the Sittwe Port, as soon as possible Sanitation and maintenance tasks have been carried out in the government technical high school, Sittwe University, Sittwe Technology University and the computer university in Sittwe and the institutions have been reopened since 1 June. Similarly, high schools have been reopened since 1 June and more than 492,000 students are studying at the schools.
Healthcare services are being provided to local residents in 17 township hospitals, 43 station hospitals in Rakhine State and two special healthcare teams and eight rapid response teams have been deployed in the state to provide healthcare services and the teams were able to give treatments to 17,239 outpatients and 33,527 inpatients.
To enable the public to use roads and bridges destroyed by the natural disaster without disruption, two bridge construction teams and seven special teams of the Bridge Management Department of the Ministry of Construction have been collecting construction materials to build temporary bailey bridges since 16 May and repairing roads and bridges since 18 May.
Concerning the distribution of aid donated by the international community, it is necessary to seek approval from the state government in accordance with rules and regulations when aid is distributed to IDPs and Bengalis Aid for areas hit by the Mocha cyclone can be donated at the Disaster Management Committee in Yangon, which is the transportation hub of the country, through the Ministry of International Cooperation.
The committee will distribute the aid to areas in need in Rakhine State and Chin State by vessel and aircraft. As such issues can cause misunderstanding, union-level officials who are responsible for rehabilitation should be cautious about them.
The government will fully cooperate with the Humanitarian Country Team, the visit of the secretary general of the ASEAN as the ASEAN Humanitarian Assistance Coordinator (SGAHAC) to gauge the damage and the formation of the on-site operation coordination center to systematically distribute the aid.
In connection with the rehabilitation tasks, responsible officials at the national-, state-, district-and township-level are required to cooperate with the people concertedly.
In conclusion, the Vice-Senior General urged all to make concerted efforts to carry out rehabilitation tasks with united strength in accordance with the guidance of the Prime Minister to create a better Rakhine State than before as the strength of a country lies inside.