Major Fire At Myanmar Refugee Camp In Thailand

[webfact]

Major fire at Myanmar refugee camp in Thailand

BANGKOK, February 23, 2012 (AFP) - A huge fire swept through a crowded Thai border camp home to thousands of refugees from neighbouring Myanmar on Thursday, destroying hundreds of homes, the authorities said.

The blaze started at about midday (0500 GMT) and quickly spread around the Umpiem Mai refugee camp, Poth Ruwaranan, head of Phop Phra district in western Tak province, told AFP by telephone.

He said there were no reports of casualties, but Sally Thompson of the Thai Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), which provides food and shelter at the border camps, said she had heard of children suffering burns.

"It's still raging. It's still not under control," she told AFP. "Patients in the clinic have been evacuated and are staying in the food warehouse."

Thompson said more than 1,000 houses, three mosques and two nursery schools were destroyed -- "about a third of the camp" -- while Poth put the figure at 300 homes.

"We believe that the fire started when they cooked. As the houses are made of bamboo and leaves, it spread too fast, especially with the hot and dry weather and strong wind," the district chief said.

The camp residents "cannot leave the camp as the regulations do not allow them, so those who lost their houses must stay with their relatives or friends inside the camp," he added.

According to the TBBC, a group of international non-governmental organisations operating along the border, as of December the Umpiem Mai camp held more than 17,000 displaced people from Myanmar, also known as Burma.

The 10 camps along the border held a total of about 136,000 people, who first began arriving in the 1980s. Many of the refugees have fled conflict zones in ethnic areas of Myanmar.

About 88,000 camp residents have been registered with the UN as refugees, but while an ongoing resettlement programme has allowed tens of thousands to move to third countries, they have been replaced by new arrivals trickling across the Moei river.

Many others live illegally outside the camps, where families live cheek-by-jowl in simple bamboo-and-thatch dwellings.

After a new quasi-civilian government replaced the long-ruling junta in Myanmar last year, Thailand announced that it wanted to shut the border camps when it was safe to do so, raising concern among their residents.

Many of the refugees are from Myanmar's eastern Karen state, where a major rebel group, the Karen National Union (KNU) signed a ceasefire deal with the new regime in January after decades of civil war.

But deep distrust about the authorities' sincerity lingers in ethnic conflict zones, and the KNU has described the peace deal as "fragile".

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2012-02-23

[webfact]

Umpiem Refugee Camp hit by forest fire

BANGKOK: -- A forest fire raged through the vast compound of Umpiem Refugee Camp in Tak's Phop Phra district Thursday.

"We are trying to control the blaze," Phop Phra district chief Poj Rhuroranan said.

As of press time, there was no report of injuries or deaths. However, the fire was clearly spreading through the forestland in which the camp is located.

A number of refugees, young and old, have fled for their lives.

"We believe the fire erupted out of dry leaves and dry weather," Poj said, "But we are going to investigate further to determine the cause of the fire".

Located in a remote corner of Phop Phra district, the Umpiem Refugee Camp needed to get the help of fire trucks from other areas.

The Umpiem Refugee Camp has accommodated more than 15,000 refugees, most of them Karenethnic and Burmese people. They have sought refuge at the camp to escape fighting in their homeland.

-- The Nation 2012-02-23

[webfact]

TAK

Battle to save fire-threatened refugee camp

The Nation

TAK: -- A forest fire raged through the vast compound of Umpiem Refugee Camp in Tak's Phop Phra district on Wednesday, reportedly destroying more than 100 shacks in the camp.

"We are trying to control the blaze," Phop Phra district chief Poj Rhuroranan said.

As of press time, there was no report of injuries or deaths. However, the fire was clearly spreading through the forestland in which the camp is located. A number of refugees, young and old, have fled.

"We believe the fire erupted out of dry leaves and dry weather," Poj said, "But we are going to investigate further to determine its cause".

Located in a remote corner of Phop Phra district, the Umpiem Refugee Camp called on the help of fire trucks from other areas.

The Umpiem Refugee Camp accommodates more than 15,000 refugees, most of them Karenethnic and Burmese, who have sought refuge at the camp to escape fighting in their homelands.

During the dry season, forest fires often break out in the area. They are blamed for smoke problems and air pollution in many northern provinces.

-- The Nation 2012-02-23

[Reasonableman]

Many of the dwellings in these refugee settlements are made of bamboo, timber and thatch, and are built in close proximity to each other, sometimes on quite steep hillsides. A disaster waiting to happen. Very sad.

[ianf]

These poor people suffer enough without this tragedy being vested upon them.

[philw]

These poor people suffer enough without this tragedy being vested upon them.

You're dead right.

Many will have lost all they have, again.

[MEL1]

Let's hope the UN steps in to help these people, as the Thai government has more things to worry about than Burmese refugees. The Thai government has just too much to concern itself with lately: such as an illicit meeting in an hotel, a party to celebrate the demotion of a man who controlled some of the flooding last year et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.... c.f. Yul Brynner, a fine Thai King.

-mel.

[lungmi]

Nothing to say for me in the moment. My heart stay with my people. (My people is the people of the world.)

Thailand does more for refugees than many Europe Contries.

In this moment the logo of SS Oberkommando makes me angry. Abhisit the refugee killer?

[webfact]

Fire at Burma refugee camp in Thailand leaves thousands homeless

2012-02-24 11:19:41 GMT+7 (ICT)

BANGKOK (BNO NEWS) -- A fire broke out on Thursday at a Burmese refugee camp in Thailand, leaving thousands of people homeless, authorities said.

The blaze started at around 10:30 a.m. and quickly swept through at least five quarters of Umpiem Mai refugee camp in Tak Province near the Thai-Burma border. The fire, swept along by the wind, spread through the camp and was still burning in late afternoon, Mizzima News reported.

The refugee camp is home to around 17,600 people. No deaths have been reported, but some children received burns in the fire.

Most of the houses in refugee camps are built of wood, bamboo and thatch. Several mosques, schools and markets were also destroyed.

"Because of the wind, it spread quickly," a survivor told Mizzima. "People, together with their children, ran helter-skelter toward open fields where there was safety. They couldn't carry anything."

The cause of the fire is still unknown. Fire officials and camp residents were still searching the debris and conducting an investigation.

The refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border house more than 140,000 people, according to the Thai Burma Border Consortium. Many of them fled ethnic conflict zones and have lived in the camps for decades.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2012-02-24

[Reasonableman]

Five quarters? That's 25% more than all of it. <deleted> does that mean? As in Parisian Quarters?

Children being burnt, the worst type of horror.

[Dap]

Five quarters? That's 25% more than all of it. <deleted> does that mean? As in Parisian Quarters?

Children being burnt, the worst type of horror.

Yes, as in "Parisian Quarters", as in "designated sections" of the Umpien Mai Refugee camp. My wife, who works in the camps on the border, and who just returned from the Mae Ra Ma Luang camp (and who I am currently skyping with) tells me that there are approximately 17 sections or "quarters" in that camp, but she is not absolutely certain of this number.

And yes, very sad.

[anterian]

When I lived in Manila this was a weekly occurence in slum/squatter areas, open fires and wood shacks just don't mix.