Residents in Sagaing and Mandalay regions told DVB that the current monsoon season is worsening conditions for survivors of the March 28 earthquake.
“Our village has been flooded since July 13. The waters have not yet receded from my home,” a resident of Salingyi Township in Sagaing told DVB.
At least five people have been killed in Myanmar during Tropical Storm Wipha, which has impacted several countries in the region since it made landfall and was downgraded from a typhoon on July 22.
“The monsoon season has made everything worse. Floods are damaging fragile shelters, contaminating water sources, and increasing the risk of disease outbreaks in overcrowded displacement sites,” the U.N. said in a statement on July 7 marking 100 days since the devastating quake.
The regime stated that the death toll from the earthquake was 3,770 with 5,104 injured and 38 missing as of July 17. At least 4,520 were killed and 11,366 were injured by the quake, according to DVB data.
There has been no official count of life‑changing injuries caused by the quake. A U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report on July 23 stated that more than 2,000 assistive devices, such as wheelchairs, crutches, and walkers, were distributed to people injured by the quake.
One of the deadliest in Myanmar’s history, the quake on March 28 impacted not only Mandalay and Sagaing, but also Magway and Bago regions, as well as Naypyidaw and southern Shan State. The regime’s Department of Meteorology and Hydrology has documented at least 205 aftershocks.
The U.N. stated that around 6.3 million people, including nearly two million children, require urgent humanitarian assistance in the worst-affected areas. It added that the quake damaged or destroyed more than 52,000 homes, over 2,600 schools and 789 hospitals.
It also highlighted that nearly 40 percent of young people surveyed identified mental health as their top unmet need, reflecting the severe psychological impact on children and adolescents four months after the quake and four years since the 2021 military coup, which has upended the lives of everyone in Myanmar.
