Tragedy

Yesterday, a fire swept through one of the nine Burmese refugee camps located along the Thai-Myanmar border. The camp where the fire took place is called Umpiem. The road to Mae Sot, the nearest city to me, passes directly by the camp; I was just there the day before. It is believed that the fire started in a single home while someone was cooking. The houses are made of bamboo and the roofs of thatch, (a type of grass) so the fire spread quickly. There were strong winds that day so the fire was able to jump up to 5 houses at a time. In an effort to contain the fire, residents whose houses were located around the perimeter of the fast spreading fire started removing their roofs. It was finally contain and extinguished. Sadly, thousands of homes were destroyed in the end. They are all in such close proximity, literally only feet from each other, it seemed inevitable that there would be great loss. These people already have nothing and the little they have is now gone too. The displaced residents had to stay with friends or relatives within the camp. Since they are not legal citizens of Thailand, they are not allowed to just leave the camp. A friend of mine here works for one of the many NGO's  that assist the refugees, she was able to take pictures that I am posting for you to see. Thank God, there are no reports of casualties. Also, if you would like to read, here is a link to an article posted about the fire.
http://www.news24.com/World/News/Thailand-Fire-razes-Myanmar-refugee-camp-20120223
Here is a video of the fire in progress:

Houses with roofs removed

The whole hillside, top and bottom used to be houses

Charred remains from a house