May, Labutta - Seven months after Nargis, Daw Myint Yee, 57, and her son began their new life in Yae Wai village, a one-hour boat drive from Labutta Township. 

Concurrently, Yee and her 17-year old son also started their new business after buying a boat and fishing net. With this regular income generated from fishing, they are able to meet their basic daily needs till date.

Yee is one of 244 people who have been relocated to Yae Wai village since 1 December 2008. After the cyclone, none of these people had the desire to go back to their native village; they preferred to stay at Kyauk Phyu Hill, about seven miles from Labutta Township.

“Nearly all the people in my village, Kywan Kwin, died during the cyclone. I did not want to go back there as I felt really sad whenever I thought of them. So I decided to restart my life in another place,” Yee said.

Instead of returning to their villages, many families moved from one place to another in search of food, water, shelter and an income after the cyclone. These families did not want to return to their villages for reasons similar to Yee’s. Some families looked for a new place to live because their houses and livelihood assets were completely destroyed by Nargis, while others wanted to move so they were not reminded of their bitter experiences during the storm.

Yee and her fellow villagers moved by their own accord from a relief camp to Kyauk Phyu Hill in the hope of rebuilding their lives.

The resettling of these people, which required extensive coordination, was discussed at a cluster meeting of UN agencies, INGOs and local authorities last November.

As a first effort, UNHCR facilitated a discussion with a number of village Early Recovery Committees (ERC), which were established with the support of UNDP, on whether these villages would allow the new families to settle in their village.  Of the villages approached, Yae Wai village offered to share their land and welcomed all the displaced people.

As a next step, UNOCHA, UNHCR and UNDP worked together to move the displaced villagers from Kyauk Phyu Hill to Yae Wai village.  WFP provided rice; UNICEF provided household utensils and water and sanitation assistance; and local NGO, Swe Tha Har, provided some livelihood assistance.   

UNDP supported grants ranging from US $70 to $100 to assist families in starting up livelihood activities. $120 was also provided to each household to begin construction of their homes in the new location.

“The support was a big help for us, as it allowed us to start a business and earn a living. Until we moved to Yae Wai village and received the grant, we were only able to work as casual laborers for other people.  Now we feel safe and happy in our new village community,” Yee said.

“The coordination effort in relocating the 32 households (244 people) was a large success. Based on the successful collaboration efforts we achieved, UNDP and other agencies will continue supporting the resettlement of dislocated households,” said U Htein Soe, UNDP Early Recovery Manager in Labutta.

Learning from this experience, similar voluntary relocation of 1800 persons from two relief camps will be carried out by the end of May 2009.