September 13, 2024

Myanmar floods kill about 160 people, many trapped, residents say

Read RFA coverage of this story in Burmese.

Flooding and landslides across Myanmar triggered by the remnants of Typhoon Yagi have killed at least 160 people, according to data compiled by Radio Free Asia, bringing widespread suffering to a country already racked by war and a stalling economy.

Most victims were in Shan state, but central areas near the city of Mandalay, the capital Naypyidaw and Bago, as well as parts of Kayah state in the east and Mon state in the south were inundated by floods that in many places rose to roof tops, residents told Radio Free Asia.

The death toll of 160 was compiled from reports from residents and various social organizations but many people said the toll is likely to be much higher. Some social media users on accounts loyal to the ruling military said that 230 people were killed in the Mandalay region alone and that dozens were missing in southern Shan state.

The junta that seized power in a 2021 coup has not released a death toll.

The military is struggling to hold territory in the face of an onslaught by ethnic minority insurgents and their pro-democracy allies, who are now in charge of a growing area and population, raising questions about the disaster response and relief resources.

“We simply don’t have enough people to help victims,” said an emergency responder in the Bago area who said at least 30 villages in Taungoo township, which is under junta control, had been completely submerged after the swollen Sittaung River burst through flood barriers.

“Currents are flowing very quickly,” said the responder, from a group called the Save the Trees Rescue Team, who declined to be identified as speaking to the media.

In Taungoo, a monastery has been taking in displaced people and providing some food, said another resident, who also declined to be identified.

“More than 300 flood victims from six villages have been accepted at the monastery but there are still villages cut off,” he said.

Finding the dead

A social worker in hard-hit Kalaw township in southern Shan state said about 100 people were killed there.

“We find the dead while searching for the missing,” the worker who asked not to be identified, told RFA. “No one has come to help, it’s only Kalaw residents.”

Flooded houses in Kalaw on September 12,2004 (Kalaw Travelling)

A resident of nearby Pekon township, said 21 people were killed there with some of the victims members of a rebel group fighting the military.

“They were washed away by water flowing off of the mountain while they were doing military training,” he said.

Several townships across the Naypyidaw administrative region were also in urgent need of aid and rescue efforts, volunteers there said.

Radio Free Asia tried to telephone the chief junta spokesperson, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, to ask about the situation but he did not respond by the time of publication.

But an official from the junta’s Ministry of Relief and Resettlement said more than 20 townships in the Naypyidaw and Bago regions, and in Mon, Kayah and Shan states had been evacuated due to flooding. He declined to be identified as he is not authorized to speak to the media.

Flooding began early in Myanmar this year after a dry season in which scores of people died in droughts.

The natural disasters are compounding a humanitarian crisis caused by the war, with more than 3 million people displaced by fighting and an economy virtually in a state of collapse.

Typhoon Yagi, Asia’s most powerful storm this year, killed scores of people in Vietnam after sweeping across southern China and the Philippines.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that the American aid organization USAID was ready to provide assistance to countries affected by Typhoon Yagi, including, including Vietnam, Myanmar, China, Thailand, Laos and the Philippines.