In Myanmar, cyclone survivors live with the dead

In Myanmar, cyclone survivors live with the dead

Decomposing bodies remain in the southern delta system, fouling the water survivors have to rely on for washing. Villagers lack the tools to remove the corpses, or to resume farming.
From a Times Staff Writer
May 20, 2008


WAT MYON, MYANMAR -- They are living with the dead.

More than two weeks after Tropical Cyclone Nargis wiped away all but one of this village's houses, decomposing corpses still lie on muddy pathways, or are trapped in eddies along the shore of the broad Pyamaia River nearby.

The stench overpowers every corner of U Thon Tun's badly damaged home, where 25 survivors have taken refuge beneath a leaky roof patched with tarp. The wind and the rain, which pours down on them every day, cannot erase the sickly smell.

The villagers, all tenant farmers, want to get past their loss, go back to work and earn money again before another rice crop is lost. But their paddies are ruined, they have no seeds to plant, and there are no tools to work soil flooded by the sea.

Without any tools, the villagers say, they can't solve another pressing problem: the corpses that are fouling the river where they wash themselves each day.

Soldiers sent in to gather the corpses suddenly disappeared Sunday, and villagers say they heard that the troops were refusing to dispose of any more bodies, leaving survivors no choice but to live with them.

"It's not 10, it's not 100, it's thousands of bodies," said Thon Tun. "We gave up collecting corpses around here. It's impossible to bury them properly."

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