By Xinhua,
Yangon : Myanmar has sent an engineering delegation to neighboring Thailand to study resettled villages there destroyed by tsunami in 2004 as a reference to build more storm-resistant model village, the local-language Myanmar Times reported Friday.
It will be another endeavor of Myanmar to seek technical know-how to build such model village in cooperation with international experts after the Japanese.
Such storm-resistant model village, to be constructed by the Myanmar Engineers’ Association with technical guidance of the Asia Institute of Technology of Thailand, will consist of water and electricity supply systems, roads, buildings, schools and hospitals, the report said.
Donation will be sought from well-wishers and the project will be implemented with the cooperation of the government and local people, the report added.
Some villages in southern Thailand, hit by then tsunami, have been rebuilt and in place to resist natural disaster on emergency case, according to the report.
The Myanmar association had sought technical assistance from the Tokyo University of Japan to build the country’s first-ever storm-resistant model village, earlier report of the Yangon Times said.
With the combination of technical know-how applied in most cyclone-hit Bangladesh, Pakistan and India, and that of Myanmar’s local regions, such cyclone-resistant model village will be constructed, the report said.
Such model village will be initially built in suitable location in Yangon division, one of two cyclone-hardest-hit divisions after Ayeyawaddy delta, by taking two years’ time and is targeted to be completed by February 2010, it said.
The 40-house model village will comprise storm shelter, water distribution system using natural gravity, solar-energy power supply system and cyclone-resistant apartments, it added.
Deadly tropical cyclone Nargis, which occurred over the Bay of Bengal, hit five divisions and states — Ayeyawaddy, Yangon, Bago,Mon and Kayin on last May 2 and 3, of which Ayeyawaddy and Yangon inflicted the heaviest casualties and massive infrastructural damage.
Villages in some townships such as Ngaputaw, Laputta, Bogalay, Dedaye, Phyapon, Mawlamyinegyun and Haigyigyun in Ayeyawaddy deltaand Kungyangon, Kawmu and Kyauktan in Yangon division were almost totally destroyed and some even erased.
The storm has killed 77,738 people and left 55,917 missing and 19,359 injured according to official-released death toll.