Some one million people in Burma have been affected by recent floods, which cost the lives of nearly a hundred people, according to the government’s Relief and Resettlement Department (RRD).
Phyu Lei Lei Tun, director of the RRD, said that as of Friday, 7 August, 92 people had been killed in incidents related to flooding and landslides throughout June, July and August.
“As of [Friday], 92 people have been killed in recent floods in July and August. In June, seven people died in flash floods in Tenasserim Division and Arakan State. So in total, 99 people lost their lives,” she said.
“Around 980,000 people across the country have been affected by the floods.”
She said the majority of victims killed in the disaster were in Arakan State.
On Sunday, clean-up and rehabilitation efforts began in towns worst hit by the floods –Sagaing Division’s Kale [Kalay], Magwe’s Pwintbyu and Arakan’s Mrauk-U and Minbya townships–now that floodwaters have subsided.
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According to local residents and relief workers, the clean-up may take up to six months in some areas as many houses were left buried in silt about one-storey high.
Meanwhile, several townships further south – in Irrawaddy and Pegu [Bago] divisions – are now submerged as floodwaters run towards the mouths of the rivers. An estimated 250,000 people in Irrawaddy alone are currently affected with around 200,000 acres of farmland inundated.
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