About 500 internally displaced people (IDPs) sheltering in Chin State’s Mindat Township require immediate assistance.

They fled from the villages of Pyan, Ramtine, and Montone Ywa Thit in Matupi Township, Chin State when junta Infantry Battalion 140. entered the villages.

Lorence, the officer in charge of the Mindat Township IDP Camp Management Committee said to Mizzima: “The IDPs are currently seeking shelter and some are living in the building where Cyclone Mocha made landfall, so they require waterproof sheets and raincoats. They also need basic food, medicine as well as nourishing supplies for children and the elderly.”

According to Lorence the IDPs are fleeing on motorcycles in the rain with only a few pieces of clothing and now the buildings where they are staying need repairs because Cyclone Mocha damaged them. This means many IDPs are living in very damp conditions and need more clothing.

Though there are nurses and healthcare workers there has been a shortage of medicines in Chin State because the junta has prohibited the transportation of medications into Chin State.

Among those who fled, a 60-year-old woman became ill and died and a seven-day-old baby died on 9 June after contracting a cold.

Despite the bad weather, the Mindat Township IDP Camp Management Committee delivered 61 bags of rice and 40 cans of cooking oil to the 500 IDPs in Mindat Township on 9 June.

Lorence said: “We provided some cooking oil and rice for them. They can’t buy anything as there are no vendors. As it is the rainy season in the mountains, vegetables have started to grow. That's what they eat, meat and fish are very difficult to get.”

He also said that the Mindat Township IDP Camp Management Committee will only be able to supply aid to the Mindat Township IDPs for the next week to 10 days if the fighting continues. If that happens the IDPs’ situation could worsen.