Burma flood toll will increase as monsoon rains lash region, warns UN Skip to main content

Burma flood toll will increase as monsoon rains lash region, warns UN

Sunday 2 August 2015 06.47 BST
Thousands have already been affected by the downpours and aid workers fear that the death toll of 27 is likely to grow significantly higher
Flooding in Kalay in Burma’s Sagaing region, which has been declared a disaster zone.
Flooding in Kalay in Burma’s Sagaing region, which has been declared a disaster zone. Photograph: Sai Zaw/AFP/Getty Images
The toll from flash floods and landslides in Burma after days of torrential rain is likely to spike, the UN has warned, as monsoonal downpours brought misery to thousands across the region.
At least 27 people have been killed and more than 150,000 affected by flooding in Burma in recent days with the government declaring the four worst-hit areas in the centre and west of the country as “national disaster-affected regions”.
Scores have also perished in India, Nepal, Pakistan and Vietnam following floods and landslides triggered by heavy seasonal rains.
Rescue work in Burma has been hampered by continued downpours and the inaccessibility of many of the remote regions worst hit by the deluges.
The UN’s office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA) said on Sunday it had been informed by the Burmese government that at least 156,000 people have been affected by the floods.
But that figure was likely to be “significantly higher” because many areas “have still not been reached or reported on by assessment teams,” the agency warned.
OCHA said the official death toll of 27 was also likely an underestimate.
“As further information becomes available, this figure is also expected to increase,” the statement said.
The sheer extent of the flooding is testing the government’s limited relief operations.
An official at Burma’s social welfare ministry who did not want to be named told AFP on Saturday that all but one of the country’s 14 provinces and regions were affected by flash floods with rescue workers “struggling to access flood-hit areas”.

Burma’s monsoon rains are a lifeline for farmers, but the rains and frequent powerful cyclones can also prove deadly, with landslides and flash floods a common occurrence.
In May 2008, Cyclone Nargis devastated Burma’s Irrawaddy deltakilling about 140,000 people. The then ruling junta’s slow response to the disaster fuelled resentment against the isolated regime and sparked international criticism.
Three years later the army ceded control to a quasi-civilian reformist government and fresh elections are slated for 8 November.
The country’s leaders have been keen to show flood relief is a top priority.
State media has run reports on president Thein Sein visiting victims in northwestern Sagaing region while powerful army chief General Min Aung Hlaing flew to flood-hit Rakhine.
Seasonal monsoon rains have also brought death and destruction to other Asian nations.
In Pakistan, flooding has killed 81 people and affected almost 300,000 in the last two weeks. Flash floods in western India have killed 26 people while the Press Trust of India said at least 20 people died over the weekend in a landslide in Manipur state which borders Myanmar.
In Vietnam’s Quang Ninh province 14 people have been killed in flooding while 36 people have perished in landslides in Nepal.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/02/burma-flood-toll-will-increase-as-monsoon-rains-lash-region-warns-un
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sri Bhaddanta Chandramani Mahathera

The Life Story of A Distinguished And Outstanding Bhikkhu The Most Venerable Saradawpharagree Sri Bhaddanta Chandramani Mahathera The Buddhist missionary Saradaw Ashin U Chandramani was endowed with great gifts and led a famous and long life. He was a very well known, distinguished and outstanding Bhikkhu Mahathera. While living in the Kushinagar Monastery, a place close to where the Lord Buddha had passed away to Nirvana, the Government of India had offered, and he had accepted, the highest, most honourable and respected title "Guru Guru MahaGuru". He became the first ever President of all Buddhists in India.A World Buddhist Conference took place in Kathmandu during the reign of King Mahindra of Nepal. The Conference was very well attended by over one hundred thousand Buddhists from various parts of the world and it was opened by King Mahindra himself. As requested by the King, Saradawpharagree blessed all the participants with the power of Triple Gems...
Post a Comment
Read more

Yangon’s Hero, Wielding Power of Stop and Go

By THOMAS FULLER NOV. 21, 2014 Sgt. Khin Myint Maung directing cars in Myanmar’s largest city, where his accolades are also an indictment of others’ corruption. Credit Tomas Munita for The New York Times YANGON, Myanmar — For 12 hours nearly every day, Sgt. Khin Myint Maung stands in one of the most chaotic intersections in this chronically gridlocked city, untangling traffic snarls with patience and unflagging good humor. It is not the most likely résumé for a recipient of a hero of the year award from a leading daily newspaper, or designation as a “role model” officer by the Yangon police force or a “real-life hero” by a German foundation. But the 26-year-old from the provinces, only recently promoted to sergeant, has earned all those awards, rising to fame purely by word of mouth. It is nearly impossible to find a taxi driver in Yangon who does n...
Post a Comment
Read more

Three Dead, Seven Injured by Artillery Shells in Two Incidents in Myanmar’s Mrauk-U

By MIN AUNG KHINE 2 December 2019 Sittwe, Rakhine State –Three Mrauk-U township residents died and four others were injured when an artillery shell struck their community in the Ale Zay quarter of Mrauk-U town on Monday afternoon after 4 p.m. A month-old girl, a 4-year-old boy and a 30-year-old woman died, according to Dr. Khin Maung Yin, the head of Mrauk-U hospital. He said, “A man and three other women were injured. One of the women sustained severe injures to her left leg and her right knee was dislocated. The injured will be operated on.” Details of what occurred were not yet known. A few hours earlier, three civilians were injured when an artillery shell fell on the village of Na Leik in Mrauk-U Township, Rakhine State, western Myanmar, on Monday at around 1 p.m., according to Yan Aung Pyin village-tract administrator U Sein Hla Aung. Two females, aged 13 and 27, and an 18-year-old male were injured in the incident, he said. Three people were hit by shrapnel and we have...
Post a Comment
Read more