UAE | General

Cyclone renders Myanmar expat's family homeless

A Myanmar man in the UAE has lost his home, and his wife and two young daughters have been rendered homeless, after the deadly cyclone struck the southeast Asian country last weekend.

  • By Nina Muslim, Staff Reporter
  • Published: 21:26 May 9, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • A woman displaced following Cyclone Nargis, fans her baby at a temporary shelter on the outskirts of Yangon.
  • Image Credit: AP
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Dubai: A Myanmar man in the UAE has lost his home, and his wife and two young daughters have been rendered homeless, after the deadly cyclone struck the southeast Asian country last weekend.

Cyclone Nargis, with 190km/h winds that caused 12 feet waves, has killed almost 23,000 people and wounded more than 42,000 people so far, according to official figures.

The United Nations estimates more than 1 million people have been left homeless.

Three of them are the wife and two daughters of Leo Thet Aung, a waiter in Dubai. He told Gulf News the wooden home where his wife, nine-month old and four-year old daughters lived was destroyed in the disaster.

"My family in Myanmar is in trouble. They are homeless. The roof and wall are gone. And water got into the house," he said.

Leo Thet Aung said his wife and children were now staying with his mother, an hour's drive from his house in Dagon Township, a suburb of Yangon.

The township was badly-affected in the disaster. Despite the grim news, Aung said he could not leave for Myanmar for the time being. "I have to work. I need money to rebuild my house," he said.

He estimated the cost to be around Dh5,000. Leo Thet Aung planned to ask his company to forward some funds to help him do so, saying he would pay for the loan in installments.

Failing that, he said he would stay and work in Dubai so that he could keep sending as much money as he could afford home to rebuild his family's home. As a waiter, Aung earns Dh1,500 a month.

After the cyclone, costs of building materials have tripled, according to reports.

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