PM Modi expresses grief over Myanmar floods

In a message broadcast on radio early Thursday, President Thein Sein said areas near the Irrawaddy were at risk as the river rises “above danger level”.

Floods have now begun to flow southwards, inundating some areas around the Irrawaddy river with roof-high waters, according to a photographer.

The death toll from recent weeks of flooding is at least 69, and more than 259,000 people across 12 of the country’s 14 states and regions have been affected, according to the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

“As we can not prevent natural disasters, I urge fellow citizens to move to safer places…”

As of yet, Myanmar’s Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement announced that 81 lives have been lost as the heavy rains prompter rivers to overflow and flood the Irrawaddy Delta.

In Hinthada township, the army yesterday helped residents prepare for floods by securing their belongings inside homes, and reinforcing embankments with sandbags.

“We are not sleeping at night, instead we watch the embankment and hope it does not break”, said 23-year-old Tun Tun.

The government appealed for global assistance on Monday and supplies had started to arrive from overseas.

Twelve regions and states of Myanmar have been severely affected by Cyclone Komen, which has led to widespread floods and landslides in that country. The floods have heaped misery on the state, which already has tens of thousands of mainly Muslim Rohingya in refugee camps after waves of sectarian violence.

Also Thursday, Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi expressed concern that the massive flooding in much of the country might be used as a pretext to undermine November’s general election, the Associated Press reported.

The call for global aid stands in contrast to the stance in 2008 when Cyclone Nargis killed more than 130,000, but the military junta then in power refused outside help.

The deadly flood killed 4,650 cattle, displaced 85,400 people and destroyed 10,956 homes and more than 88,120 hectares of farmland.

More than two dozen people died late Tuesday in central India when a flash flood derailed two passenger trains.