UN warns Myanmar flood toll to increase as rains lash region

Severe flooding across Myanmar hampered rescue efforts yesterday as thousands sheltered at monasteries after rising waters triggered by torrential rains killed at least 27 people, officials said.

“I’ve never experienced such a awful flood in my life”, Thein Tun, a 57-year-old retired teacher, said by telephone from Mrauk-U in western Rakhine state, one of the worst-hit areas that has yet to receive aid.

All but one of Myanmar’s 14 states and regions have been hit by flash floods, putting strain on the country’s limited disaster response programs as rescue workers struggle to get access to affected areas.

The agency said the figures are expected to increase as more information becomes available, because many areas have not been reached or reported on by assessment teams.

Flooding in recent weeks has “severely affected” between 67,000 and 110,000 people, according to the United Nations.

Flooding has also caused devastation in several other Asian countries.

In the neighbouring eastern Indian state of Manipur, a landslide buried a village, killing at least 21 people.

“Local authorities, the Union Government, the military, as well as the Myanmar Red Cross Society and local civil society organizations are responding to the situation, carrying out rescue operations and providing food, water, blankets, medical and other basic necessities to those affected”, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement Thursday.

Rakhine already hosts some 140,000 displaced individuals, primarily Rohingya Muslims, who reside in uncovered make-shift coastal camps following lethal 2012 unrest between the minority group and Buddhists.

State media also reported that the Chin state capital Haka had been rocked by landslides over the weekend destroying 60 homes, a number of key roads and seven bridges.

These areas have seen “huge destruction”, said the state-backed Global New light of Myanmar newspaper Saturday, adding that they would “face difficulty returning to normal conditions”.

In May 2008, Cyclone Nargis made landfall on Myanmar’s coastline.

Three years later the army ceded control to a quasi-civilian reformist government and fresh elections are slated for November 8.

Myanmar’s President Thein Sein declared a state of emergency in four regions – Chin, Magwe, Sagaing and Rakhine.