Flood-affected residents use internal tubes as flotation gadgets in Taungoo, Bago area, Myanmar, on September 14, 2024, following heavy rains introduced by Storm Yagi. Storm Yagi introduced a colossal deluge that inundated a swathe of northern Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar, triggering lethal landslides and widespread river flooding. | Photograph credit score: AFP
The top of Myanmar’s army junta on Saturday (14 September 2024) made a uncommon request for international assist to take care of lethal floods which have displaced a whole bunch of hundreds of people that have already endured three years of warfare.
Flooding and landslides have killed practically 300 individuals in Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand within the wake of Storm Yagi, which dumped a colossal deluge of rain when it hit the area final weekend.
In Myanmar, greater than 235,000 individuals have been pressured from their properties by flooding, the junta mentioned Friday, additional including to the distress within the nation the place warfare has raged because the army seized energy in 2021.
In Taungoo, about an hour south of the capital Naypyidaw, residents paddled makeshift rafts over floodwaters lapping at a Buddhist pagoda.
Rescuers navigated a speedboat by the waters, lifting fallen energy traces and damaged tree branches with a protracted pole.
“I misplaced my rice, my chickens and my geese,” mentioned farmer Naung Tun, who had moved his three cows to greater floor close to Taungoo after floodwaters inundated his village.
“I do not care about different issues. Nothing is extra vital than the lives of individuals and animals,” he mentioned. AFP.
Escape by any means
The rains following Storm Yagi despatched individuals fleeing throughout Southeast Asia by any means vital, together with by elephant in Myanmar and jet ski in Thailand.
“Authorities officers ought to contact international nations to obtain rescue and reduction help for the victims,” junta chief Min Aung Hlaing mentioned Friday, in keeping with the World New Gentle of Myanmar newspaper.
“It’s vital to rearrange rescue, reduction and rehabilitation measures as shortly as doable,” he mentioned.
Myanmar’s army has beforehand blocked or thwarted humanitarian help from overseas.
Final yr it suspended journey authorisations for support teams attempting to succeed in round 1,000,000 victims of the highly effective Cyclone Mocha that hit the west of the nation.
On the time, the United Nations described the choice as “incomprehensible.”
AFP has contacted a UN spokesperson in Myanmar for remark.
After Cyclone Nargis killed at the very least 138,000 individuals in Myanmar in 2008, the then junta was accused of blocking emergency support and initially refusing to grant entry to humanitarian staff and provides.
‘A horrible expertise’
The junta on Friday put the loss of life toll at 33, whereas earlier within the day the nation’s fireplace division mentioned rescuers had recovered 36 our bodies.
A army spokesman mentioned it had misplaced contact with components of the nation and was investigating studies that dozens of individuals had been buried in landslides in a gold mining space within the central Mandalay area.
Army vans ferried small rescue boats to flood-hit areas across the military-built capital Naypyidaw on Saturday. AFP The journalists mentioned.
“We solely had one meal yesterday,” mentioned Naung Tun from close to Taungoo.
“It is horrible to endure a flood as a result of we won’t stay nicely when it occurs.”
“It could be effective for individuals who have cash, however for individuals who must work daily to have the ability to eat, it’s not good in any respect.”
Greater than 2.7 million individuals had been already displaced in Myanmar by the battle sparked by the junta’s coup in 2021.
Vietnamese authorities mentioned Saturday that 262 individuals had died and 83 had been lacking.
In the meantime, pictures from the Lao capital Vientiane confirmed homes and buildings flooded by the Mekong River.
Printed – September 14, 2024 11:15 am IST
