Myanmar’s flood death toll rises to 226 with scores missing
Thousands of homes and schools have been destroyed by high water, the junta said.
UPDATED at 2:39 P.M. ET on 09-17-2024
Read RFA coverage of this story in Burmese.
Flooding caused by the remnants of Typhoon Yagi across Myanmar has killed 226 people with 77 missing, the military-backed Myanmar Alin newspaper reported on Tuesday, though some community workers fear the toll will be higher.
The heavy rain that began across the strife-torn country early last week forced rivers over their banks and triggered deadly flash floods and runoffs. As of Monday, more than 630,000 people were believed to be affected, said the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA.
At least 56 townships in Kayah, Kayin, Mon and Shan states, and the central Bago and Mandalay regions, as well as the Ayeyarwady delta region and the capital Naypyitaw, were hit by severe floods, media reported.
The flooding destroyed more than 2,000 houses, more than 1,000 schools, nearly 370 religious buildings, and more than 640,000 acres of farm lands, media cited military authorities as saying.
Members of social activist groups said they believed the death toll could be much higher than the reported 226, with many areas cut off from help and many hundreds of thousands of people displaced by fighting between anti-junta forces and the military particularly vulnerable.
As many as 200 people were believed to be missing across the country, aid workers said.
RELATED STORIES
Shortages in Myanmar lead to ‘socialist-era’ economy
Red Cross chief calls for greater aid access after visit to Myanmar
Myanmar’s civil war has displaced 3 million people: UN
In Kayah state in the east, on the border with Thailand, camps for the displaced had been hit by both flooding and landslides down steep slopes, said an official from the Karenni National Women’s Organization.
‘’The oldest camps and the most long-term residents … were submerged when Pon creek began to rise. Tents and the food storage were flooded,” said the social worker, who declined to be identified for safety reasons. “Crops growing nearby were also damaged.”
More than 30,000 people displaced by fighting across Kayah and Shan states were in urgent need of food, shelter and clothing, said aid workers, adding that moving people out of flood zones was a huge problem.
Two dozen people, including 18 medical personnel training with an ethnic minority guerilla force were killed last week in Kayah state where a flash flood swept down a mountain, relief workers said, adding that many were missing.
RFA tried to telephone Kayah state’s junta spokesperson, Zar Ni Maung, to ask about the situation there but he did not answer his phone.
In central Myanmar, rescuers were struggling to get help to 30 flooded villages in Phyu township along the banks of overflowing Sittaung River in the Bago region, social workers said.
The situation has been complicated by a ban by the ruling junta on the transport of rice and medicine to the areas, saying that they are controlled by anti-regime People’s Defense Forces, a relief worker told RFA on Tuesday.
Relief groups heading to help residents there said they were blocked by members of Light Infantry Battalion 439 based in Ka Nyut Kwin township, including at a checkpoint on the route between Ban Laung village and Phyu township.
Tin Oo, economic minister and spokesman for Bago region, did not respond to Radio Free Asia's request for comment.
Some people who live along the river’s bank have moved to nearby monasteries and houses on higher ground but are in urgent need of food and water, aid workers said.
No heavy rain was expected over the worst-hit areas, at least for the next day or so, the military’s weather office said, but Myanmar’s rainy season is due to last for several more weeks.
Aid from abroad
In the meantime, other countries are sending humanitarian aid to Myanmar for those affected by flooding from Typhoon Yagi.
The South Korean Embassy in Myanmar said Tuesday that it would provide US$13 million in humanitarian aid through international organizations, including the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance and OCHA.
Similarly, India's Foreign Minister Jaishankar posted on Facebook that his country was sending 10 tons of dried food, clothes and medicine to Myanmar by ship.
Thai Foreign Affairs Minister Sangiampongsa is in talks with Myanmar authorities to find mutual ways to mitigate the flood situation in the region, according to a Tuesday report in the Bangkok Post.
The two countries will look for ways to expand catchment areas to relieve the flooding, he said.
The Thai Embassy in Myanmar is arranging for agencies from both nations to discuss technical details to determine suitable areas that can be turned into catchment areas, he added.
Yagi, Asia’s worst storm of the year, ripped across Vietnam, northern Thailand and Laos after hitting the Philippines and China’s Hainan island early this month.
Almost 300 people were killed in Vietnam, 42 in Thailand, 21 in the Philippines and four in Laos, according to the ASEAN Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance, as cited by the Associated Press.
Translated by Aung Naing for RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan, Mike Firn and Roseanne Gerin.
