By U AC

DUE to typhoon Yagi in the South China Sea and a small storm in the Bay of Bengal, continuous rainfall and flooding have caused major floods in various parts of Myanmar, in September of this year. This could be the first time in history that the country has been impacted by such extensive floods that inundated many vil­lages and towns in many states and regions concurrently.

The torrential rain has caused water levels in creeks and rivers to rise, dams to over­flow, and drains to spill over onto roads, resulting in major flood­ing, loss of life, destruction of homes and livelihoods and con­siderable economic losses.

The eastern side of Nay Pyi Taw’s greater region was sub­merged in water, a fact totally unheard of in the past. Rescu­ers have had difficulty trying to reach the Loikaw, the capital of Kayah State, totally engulfed in water. Toungoo was inaccessible for two weeks in September due to floods. Flood has subsided in Kengtung and Tachilek in east­ern Shan State near the Thai border, leaving mud as thick as half an adult’s height covering the houses, vehicles and mo­torbikes. Yangon Mandalay ex­pressway was completely cut off around the 340-mile marker near Mandalay for nearly a week due to an overflow from surround­ing farmlands and swamps. One of the worst affected could be Kalaw, where the speed of the downpours and floods causes landslides and buries people and houses altogether. Our favour­ite destination Inn Lay was not spared either. The accumulation of torrent waters from the moun­tains surrounding the famous lake, resulted in a significant rise in water levels across the lakes, causing the houses on stilts to collapse and even the floating farms to be swept away across the lake. Most of the houses are underwater now, with only the roofs being visible from afar.

The flood has damaged roads, bridges, houses, depart­mental buildings, schools, and other structures. Initial assess­ment by the government stat­ed that at least 160,000 homes have been flooded in 56 town­ships across the land (there are altogether 330+ townships in the whole country). Around 500 relief camps have been set up by regional and state governments and charitable organizations. The death toll has been counted as 230 being killed and 80 miss­ing, as of the middle of Septem­ber. Furthermore is expected as search and rescue missions start to recover the victims of the landslides. The damage also included 117 departmental offic­es and buildings, 1,040 schools, 386 religious buildings, roads, bridges, power towers, and tel­ecom towers.

Nearly 130,000 farm animals have died, and 643,081 acres of paddy and other crops have been damaged, based on a mid-month assessment of the damage so far. The vegetable prices have suddenly shot up, due to the disruption in logistics from the vegetables producing southern Shan state to Yangon. Fuel in affected areas was inaccessible, causing hyperinflation of 300-500 per cent on a litre bottle of petrol or diesel. Most of the hotels on the banks of Inlay Lake were flooded too, possibly rendering them inhabitable at least for the upcoming season, even if the owners have spare cash to repair the damages.

A friend in need is a friend indeed

Floods in China, Vietnam, and Laos due to this typhoon are equally devastating. But for a poorer country relying on agriculture, the damage to the economy can be exponential.

The government’s human and financial resources were already stretched. Private do­nations poured in to help the flood victims, with a parallel increase in Facebook fraud tak­ing advantage of this tragedy to defraud people in the context of collecting donations. With the widespread use of KPay, even a donation of 10 each by a hundred kind souls can enrich the fraud­ster temporarily.

The government is now organizing private donations using designated units and de­partments. In a recent private donation drive, the government managed to collect more than K33 billion (US$6.5 million) from private individuals and compa­nies, bringing a rare occasion to smile about for the Senior General.

Yet, help was hard to come by in places where it was need­ed most. Every day over social media, people posted videos of their plight, hoping and asking for assistance, during the fort­night post floods. People close to myself have visited Inlay on the third week of September and no government officials were seen in sight when they distributed jerry cans of drinking water to the affected communities. The flood areas were so extensive that the rescue personnel were spread too thin perhaps.

International aid has also poured in meanwhile.

The World Food Programme (WFP) is launching an emergen­cy food aid operation this week to assist around 500,000 flood-hit people in Myanmar. WFP has been offering flood relief aid since July, and the scale of its op­erations will now be significant­ly expanded. The organization plans to distribute one month’s worth of emergency food sup­plies, including rice, fortified bis­cuits, and nutritional support, to about 500,000 flood-battered people, meeting their immediate needs.

“This flood, caused by Super Typhoon Yagi, is one of the worst in Myanmar’s modern history. Large parts of the country are submerged, and in some areas, it is the first time in decades they have experienced such flooding. The impact on food security is severe. Even before the floods, more than 13 million people in Myanmar were already facing food shortages in August. Our staff teams are working swiftly to meet these growing needs,” said its local chief.

European Union has also donated 2 million Euros as flood relief aid.

India has also despatched a navy ship full of 10 tonnes of supplies to Myanmar in mid-Sep­tember. China has also sent in some aid in October. Korea as­sociation here has also donat­ed K200 million for flood relief. Singapore has also sent an Air Force plane full of bottled drink­ing water and other supplies re­cently. Obviously, used plastic bottles might become a waste disposal issue later on. Japan has also donated some nominal amount to the government.

The obvious invisibility is the NNCP terrorists and EAO groups. When the push comes to shove, they have no plans to help the people that they claim to serve and represent. Or, as Trump would proudly say, ‘They have concepts of a plan’. They collected funds across the world to do anti-government activities and along the way, their leaders enriched themselves with mil­lions. When people really needed them, they stood so small!