Burma Link, March 22, 2014

One died and two were injured in Bum Tsit Pa IDP camp, Kachin State, when a plastic tent caught fire early yesterday morning. Following the tragic incident, camp residents and aid workers are calling for safer shelters for housing.

The plastic tent provided by the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, caught fire around 2 am in the morning claiming the life of a 13-year-old girl Nhkum Mai Ra. Her 35-year-old mother and 3-year-old youngest brother were badly injured and admitted to hospital in China for medical treatment, Hkun Htoi, the secretary of The Kachin Relief Fund tells Burma Link.

Fire injury

The victim’s mother was badly injured in the fire. (Photo: The Kachin Relief Fund)

In strike contrast to other IDP camps in northern Burma, Bum Tsit Pa camp residents are provided with plastic emergency tents instead of more permanent shelters.

The fire was started by burning firewood inside the tent to keep warm. Aid workers are concerned that staying in plastic tents in putting IDPs’ lives in danger due to the significant fire risk as well as overcrowding in the small plastic tents.

“Plastic fabric made tent is not advisable in Kachin State’s weather condition”, Hkun Htoi tells Burma Link.

“We are urging the DFID (the Department for International Development), international donors and UNHCR to provide better conditions and safer shelter homes for the IDPs. The UNHCR should use a standard size shelter housing for the IDP family. The victim’s family had six family members sharing one small tent. This is extremely overcrowded with kitchen, household utilities, bedding etc. inside the tent”, Hkun Htoi continues.

The IDPs in the camp say they are now reluctant to cook inside and scared of using fire for cooking.

The UNHCR provides the plastic tents to the displaced population, which does not have more permanent shelter because it moved from a different IDP camp in November 2013 when the Burmese military attacked Nam Lim Pa area. Currently 290 households with 1056 family members live in the UNHCR emergency tents.

In total, about 100,000 people have been displaced as a result of fighting and human rights violations in the Kachin State.

The fighting between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Burma Army broke out in June 2011, breaking a ceasefire signed in 1994. Post-outbreak, cases of rape and other forms of torture by the Burmese army against civilians have been widely documented in the Kachin State.

Read more about the Kachin here.

Read more about Kachin IDP camps here.

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