SITTWE- Some of the food donated by the Indian government, including 20,000 rice bags, have arrived in Sittwe Township. The authorities will be distributing the foodstuffs to the IDPs.

The Indian government initially sent 20,000 tarpaulins, 20,000 rice bags, and litres of cooking oil to Thilawa Jetty in Yangon via Kolkata Jetty in India. From there, the aid arrived in Sittwe via cargo ship on January 6th.

“Currently, rice bags, cooking oil and tarpaulin weighing 578 metric tons arrived in Sittwe Township as a first batch. The remaining aid items, including curry powder and spices will arrive. At present, we don’t finish transferring the food items to the warehouses from the Jetty. Currently, those food items are stored at the warehouses situated in the compound of the Indian Counsellor’s Office. And then, we are going to donate the food to the IDPs,” said Director Kyaw Min from the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement.

According to the lists collected in the first week of December, the numbers of IDPs increased in Rakhine State. So, there were over 96,000 IDPs, according to the announcement of Arakan Ethnic Association.

Due to the ongoing clashes that occurred in Rakhine State, the locals faced food shortages.

The IDPs are temporarily taking shelter at the monasteries because the construction of relief camps hasn’t been completed yet.