With Field Assessments and Situation Updates by: Committee for Internally Displaced Karen People; Karen Office of Relief and Development; Karenni Social Welfare and Development Centre; Mon Relief and Development Committee; Shan Relief and Development Committee.....While offi cial fi gures estimate that a quarter of the nation live in poverty, this survey suggests that almost two thirds of households in rural areas of South East Burma/Myanmar are unable to meet their basic needs. Impoverishment is particularly severe in the confl ict-affected townships of Kyaukgyi and Shwegyin in Pegu/Bago Region and Thandaung in Karen/Kayin State. Comparative analysis with household surveys conducted by the World Food Program suggest that that standards of living in rural areas of the South East are similar to conditions in Northern Rakhine State and far worse than those those reported from the central Dry Zone. This report seeks to increase awareness about the scale of poverty and displacement in rural areas of South East Burma/Myanmar at a critical juncture in the nation?s history. During the past two years, apart from interviewing key informants in fi fty townships to assess the scale of forced displacement, poverty assessments have been conducted with over 2,600 households in fourteen townships. Estimates of displacement were guided by international standards and the poverty assessment was developed in consultation with humanitarian agencies based in Rangoon/Yangon to ensure that vulnerability indicators are standardised...This survey found that coercive military patrols, forced labour and forced displacement each disrupted the livelihoods of at least one in ten households during the previous six months. These and other shocks contributed to food shortages for three out of four households during the month prior to the survey. Rather than being temporary gaps, more than half the households will have bought, borrowed or bartered for rice to cover at least three months consumption in order to avoid food shortages leading up to the current harvest. Households primarily cope by buying cheaper and poorer quality food, buying food on credit, relying on family and friends and reducing consumption by eating rice soup. Villagers are incredibly resilient but their coping strategies need support so they can break free from the poverty trap..."