Severe flooding hampers rescue efforts in Myanmar, at least 27 dead
August 02, 2015
Heavy monsoon rain has battered vast swathes of the country in recent weeks and on Friday the government declared the four worst-hit areas in central and western Myanmar as "national disaster-affected regions", indicating the severity of the damage.
In neighbouring India´s Manipur state, which borders western Myanmar´s Chin state, at least twenty people were killed in a landslide triggered by incessant rain in Chandel district, the Press Trust of India reported.
In Myanmar itself, around 150,000 homes and fields have been decimated, leaving people stranded in remote villages and destroying their livelihoods in a disaster testing the government´s limited relief operations.
"Most of the country is flooded now," said a director at the social welfare ministry who did not want to be named, explaining that all but one of Myanmar´s 14 provinces and regions were affected by the flash floods, rising waters and landslides caused by the downpour.
Rescue efforts by Myanmar authorities and local aid groups were underway but they are "struggling to access flood-hit areas", the official said, adding that there was no update to Thursday´s death toll of 27 due to disrupted communications.
Rakhine and Chin states in the west were among the four worst-affected areas.
In the announcement signed by President Thein Sein Friday, it said these areas had seen "huge destruction and face difficulty returning to normal conditions", according to the state-backed Global New Light of Myanmar (GNLM) newspaper.
In Maungdaw township in Rakhine, houses and office buildings have been destroyed, trees uprooted and damaged roads sealed off due to violent storms, a local government official told AFP.
He added that rescue camps have been opened at monasteries while transport in the area was reduced to "almost zero" due to the continuous rainfall. (AFP)
