Sept 13 (Askume) – Heavy rains caused flooding in and around Myanmar’s capital, killing at least 19 people and forcing rescue workers to use boats to move some of the 3,600 displaced people to safer areas, the National Fire Service regional services said.
Severe weather brought by Typhoon Yagi, Asia’s strongest storm this year, has killed more than 230 people in Vietnam and Thailand , and floods caused by rising rivers have inundated cities in both countries.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since a military coup in February 2021, with violence spreading across much of the impoverished country.
An armed insurgency composed of new resistance groups and established ethnic armies is challenging well-equipped armies amid a severe economic crisis that is likely to be exacerbated by floods.
About 162 square kilometres around the capital Naypyitaw were flooded on Thursday, according to an analysis of satellite imagery by the UN-backed Myanmar Information Management Unit (MIMU).
Analysts said 366 square kilometres around Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, was also submerged.
“A total of 3,602 flood-affected people were rescued and relocated from 30 locations,” the fire department said in a Facebook post late Thursday during the Naypyidaw operation, which claimed 19 lives.
Photos released by the department showed some buildings flooded and residents, including women and children, stranded on rooftops before they were evacuated by rescue workers.
Nearly a third of Myanmar’s 55 million people require humanitarian assistance, but many aid agencies, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, are unable to work in many areas due to access restrictions and security risks.
