The death toll in Myanmar from the floods and landslides caused by heavy monsoon rain has risen to 74 and affected more than 330,000 people.
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River water is still at dangerously high levels in low-lying regions of Myanmar as flood waters flow down from higher northern areas where the conditions are worst, authorities said.
“It’s best to evacuate to a safe place in advance since natural disasters can’t be stopped once they start”, he said in a speech broadcast on state television.
About 6.2 million people, 12 percent of Myanmar’s population, live in the region, an area where the Irrawaddy and other rivers branch out into a delta leading to the sea.
Parts of the centre and south, Myanmar’s main major rice-growing area, are now bracing for floods as water drains through the vast Irrawaddy delta.
So far, Yangon is not under threat of the disastrous floods, albeit being located next to the Delta.
Concerns over food security are also mounting as the UN said more than one million acres of farmland have been flooded, devastating the staple rice crop. The leader of the Myanmar opposition, Aung San Suu Kyi declared that the monsoon and the floods that heavily impacted Myanmar residents could be used as an excuse to bypass the general election set for November.
“We express our hopes that the impact of this can obviously be dealt with minimal further loss of life and disruption”, Kerry told a meeting with Southeast Asian foreign ministers he co-chaired with Myanmar’s foreign minister Wunna Maung Lwin.
Japan, through the Japan worldwide Cooperation Agency (JICA), said it would provide blankets, mattresses and plastic sheets following the government’s appeal for help.
She also appealed for donor countries to give aid in what she called a coordinated fashion because “donations which are uncoordinated tend to go astray”.
India today airlifted several tonnes of rice, noodles and medicines to Myanmar which has been severely affected by cyclone Komen.
Kyaw Moe Oo, a deputy director from the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology, said Yangon was not at risk from floods, but the department was monitoring water levels at reservoirs and dams around the city.
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With your help, we can work swiftly to protect the incredibly vulnerable children who are stranded in flood-stricken communities in Myanmar.
