So far, Yangon is not under threat of the disastrous floods, albeit being located next to the Delta.
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Specifically, 8 people perished in flood in Mandalay, followed by Sagaing region with 7 and Shan state with 6, while the death toll in Chin state, caused by landslide out of torrential rain, had reached 4.
Twelve of Myanmar’s 14 areas have been struck, with officers saying 74 individuals have been killed and greater than 330,000 affected – many pressured into monasteries and different makeshift shelters after their houses have been flooded.
Myanmar President U Thein Sein, in his radio speech to the nation these days, vowed that the government had made arrangements for restoring the normality of flood-hit areas as soon as possible by making the best use of financial and man power.
“As we can’t forestall pure disasters, I urge fellow residents to maneuver to safer locations … it is the easiest way”, he stated, including Hinthada and Nyaung Don townships alongside the river have been in instant hazard.
Meanwhile, Myanmar Rice Federation on Thursday decided to halt rice export until September 15 for domestic reserve in face of the severe flood.
In Hinthada, the army on Thursday helped residents prepare for floods, securing belongings inside homes and reinforcing embankments with sand bags, with villages on the other side of the barriers already submerged up to their roof-tops.
On August 4, 2015, Government of Myanmar welcomed global assistance for the flood response.
Boat driver Than Naing said this year’s monsoon was the worst in living memory, as he helped ferry people across an expanse of dark water that has swallowed padi fields. “Every year it floods a bit but not like this”, he told Agence France-Presse.
The state is home to sprawling displacement camps housing tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims in flimsy coastal tents.
The current quasi-civilian government has faced a barrage of criticism on social media and lingering suspicion that it is underplaying the disaster, but it has been eager to show it is mobilising.
Their approach appears in stark contrast to the former ruling generals, who refused outside help for weeks after the 2008 Cyclone Nargis, which left 140,000 dead or missing.
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Across the region, hundreds have died and more than two million people have been affected, with India and Pakistan bearing the brunt of the devastation while Vietnam and Nepal have also seen scores killed.
