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Natural Disasters and Justice: Interviews with Burmese Workers

Burmese migrant workers tell their stories

• Interview with Nyo
• Interview with Than Sue
• Interview with Nom, Thap Tawan

EDITOR’S NOTE: Ban Nam Khem is near the coast and was almost completely destroyed. There was a large concentration of migrant workers there because of the fishing industry and nearby construction work. Many of these stories were originally collected in May 2005 when the the Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma (TACDB) was starting the victim identification process. An AFSC consultant followed up in December after identifications had been made.

Interview with Nyo

Nyo with her child in Bahn Nam Khem.

Nyo is a 40 year-old Burmese woman who has been living in Bahn Nam Khem for ten years.

Her husband was on a fishing boat in the harbour of Bahn Nam Khem when the tsunami hit, but he was able to reach one of the higher buildings that survived the destruction. Nyo, who was six months pregnant at the time, was also able to run to safety. Their house was completely destroyed, and her four-year-old son was killed by the tsunami.

Her husband’s registration card, health card, and work permit were lost in the disaster. Despite being registered, they were deported to Burma where they stayed for two months before returning to Thailand. Her husband has stopped working on the boats because Nyo is still very afraid of another tsunami and has to care for their small baby. His registration and other cards have been replaced, through help from a sympathetic Thai employer at the construction site where he now works.

In late December 2005, seven months after the collection of Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) information by TACDB for Nyo’s son, Nyo was informed that the body had been identified. She is also registered in Thailand and so will be able to collect the body and arrange a funeral service once the necessary paperwork has been completed. She chose to hold the ceremony to be in Bahn Nam Khem rather than at the larger temple in Bang Muang to allow her friends and relatives to attend. The larger temple is on the main road and it is unsafe for unregistered migrants to travel there.

Interview with Than Sue

Than Sue in Bahn Nam Khem.

Than Sue is a 29 year-old Burmese woman who has been living in Bahn Nam Khem for eight years with an elder sister and younger brother and sister. They moved to Thailand because they could not find employment in Burma.

The house where Than Sue lived was destroyed in the tsunami, but she was not injured. However, her elder sister and her niece were killed in the tsunami. Last May, Than Sue’s brother-in-law reported these deaths to TACDB staff and completed the 20-page Ante-Mortem Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) forms.

Than Sue has “registered” in the village and has no other papers. She has been arrested only once, three years ago, and sent back to Burma. Since the tsunami she has married, and her husband works in the fish trade. They already held a ceremony for her sister and her child in Burma, but if they are able to identify the bodies, she would like to have a cremation ceremony here in Thailand.

In late December, TACDB staff went to inform her brother-in-law that the body of his wife (Than Sue’s sister) had been identified, although his daughter has not yet been found. He still misses his wife and daughter very much every day. Even though he understands that many, many people are in the same position, he cannot find any peace of mind.

Interview with Nom, Thap Tawan

Nom, who did not wish to be photographed, is a young man from the Tavoy ethnic group who has been working in the Thai construction industry. He has been in Thailand for seven years and speaks Thai well. His wife is also a construction worker and they have two children, aged six and three. All of them survived the tsunami. The elder child is in Burma, while the younger attends a local nursery school.

When the tsunami took place, Nom was working with a group of 20 other Burmese at Bahn Sak beach and was very lucky to survive. After the tsunami and the crackdown by Thai police, all the tsunami survivors from his team were in hiding. Out of 50-60 Burmese in the full group, about ten were arrested and deported. Nom was arrested but released because he is registered. About two months after the tsunami they received their first assistance in the form of rice, noodles, cooking utensils and bedding from the Tsunami Action Group (TAG). His family was only able to move back to their normal accommodation at the construction site about 3-4 months after the tsunami.

Prior to the tsunami he often did not get his salary from his Thai employers, or had to wait for 1-2 months. Following the tsunami, he was able to start work again on a school construction project, but again he was not paid by the sub-contractor. However, since then he has received support from an AFSC partner group, Grassroots Human Rights Education and Development Committee (GHREDC) and now works as a supervisor on the construction site. The support was in the form of tools to be used by teams of Burmese workers to enable them to work directly with Thai employers and so avoid the exploitation of sub-contractors.

Nom sees this as a very significant improvement in his work situation, and is confident since he is able to make use of the tools even though he does not own them. He now makes enough money to send some home to support his child in Burma.

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