Myanmar town struggles to feed cyclone refugees

MYAUNG MYA, Myanmar (Reuters) - Ten thousand cyclone refugees have turned up in this bustling town from the devastated Irrawaddy delta, and their numbers swell by the day despite a lack of food and shelter, an aid volunteer said on Saturday.

Most are staying in 15 schools and monasteries dotted across the town, 100 km west of Yangon and just north of the direct path of the cyclone that slammed into the southeast Asian a week ago.

The military government has provided no help and the town cannot cope, a woman working at a school housing 900 people told Reuters. Most shelters -- schools, monasteries or public halls -- each hold about 700 people, she said.

"Three hundred was OK but 900 is too much," she said, asking not to be named for fear of recrimination from the military government.

Three teachers stood at the gates of the school asking passers-by for donations, but the parcels of rice they gathered were woefully too small.

"We have 900 people here but we only have 300 lunch boxes. We gave it to the women and children first. The men still have not had any food," the woman said.

RUNNING OUT OF CHARITY

Myaung Mya, a town of 100,000 people, was largely unscathed by the cyclone, which killed up to 100,000 and left 1.5 million homeless in the delta, according to the United Nations.

Now, the homeless bathe their children in playgrounds with water drawn from public wells. They hang their washing on the wrought-iron railings of ornate Buddhist pagodas to dry beneath the searing southeast Asian tropical sun.

At night, they sleep sandwiched together on bare floors. There are no nets or camp fires to keep away the mosquitoes that carry diseases such as malaria and dengue.

During the day there is nothing to do except sit around and wait for help that does not come.

No one knows how long it can last.

There are rumors the June 1 start of the school year will be delayed if the refugees are not given somewhere to live. Many of their villages are still beneath the waves. Bloated corpses float past the matchstick remains of homes.

Residents say they are doing what they can, but are running out of charity.

"How many more days are we going to be able to feed them? People here can barely afford to feed themselves," one businessman said.

Shops were pulling down their shutters early in the evening for fear of looting, the businessman said.

"These people have nothing left to lose," he said. "Maybe they will just go for it."

(Writing by Ed Cropley; Editing by Bill Tarrant)