Heavy rains in Myanmar cause more flooding; 9 dead

Government figures suggest at least 27 people have been killed and a further 156,000 people affected by the heavy flooding, which has hit large areas of the country.

As further information becomes available, the death toll is also “expected to increase”, it said. The government’s Relief and Resettlement Department estimates that 110,000 people have been severely affected by the floods, particularly in the Sagaing region and Kachin and Shan states, accounting for 21 deaths in July.

Rescuers were on Sunday clawing through mud and debris searching for bodies as well as survivors of the accident in the remote village in Chandel district bordering Myanmar.

“Myanmar informed China this morning that they will transfer the above-mentioned persons tomorrow”, the statement said, adding that there had been “intense communication” between the two nations over the loggers.

Some affected people blamed mismanagement of irrigation projects and deforestation, mindless logging in recent decades that caused heavy rains in the area.

In the worst-hit western state of Gujarat the death toll stood at 53.

Seventeen people have been killed in recent flooding including two families swallowed up by the toxic mud.

“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.

Elsewhere, floods in Vietnam left at least 17 people dead and in western Nepal, some 36 people were killed after torrential rain triggered landslides.

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. “Preliminary studies point out that there’s in depth injury to shelters and different infrastructure in camps round Sittwe, the place some 100,000 displaced individuals are staying”, the report stated, referring to the state’s capital.

Myanmar’s newspapers and social media users reacted with anger and disappointment yesterday to the government’s decision to include 155 Chinese in a mass amnesty, just eight days after they were jailed for illegal logging.