Refugee camps guarded like 'prisons'

Mizzima's correspondent returned from Pathein, the capital of Irrawaddy Division, one week after Cyclone Nargis hit the Delta. As a foreigner, he was denied access to areas which were hit hardest by the cyclone. But he saw hundreds of cyclone victims, including many orphans, and listened to their stories.

The Burma Army and local authorities keep survivors in evacuation camps that are guarded and managed like prisons.

In Myaungmya, close to the totally destroyed township of Laputta, the government has converted the six government high schools into shelters, each housing about 600 survivors. No one is allowed to enter these schools and no survivor is allowed to leave, not even for the search of missing family members.

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