The junta leader, who has blocked humanitarian aid in the past, appealed for help after heavy flooding caused by Typhoon Yagi displaced “236,649 people”.
Myanmar’s junta leader Min Aung Hlaing has requested foreign aid in a rare move after floods killed at least 33 people in the country and displaced more than 235,000 people, state media reported Saturday. “Government officials should contact foreign countries to receive relief and assistance for victims”Min Aung Hlaing said on Friday, according to the newspaper. Global New Light of Myanmar.
On the same day, junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun announced that floods caused by Typhoon Yagi had killed at least 33 people and displaced 1,000 people. “236,649 people”specifying that communications were cut off with certain areas.
The disaster further exacerbates the misery in a country that has been plunged into a humanitarian, security and political crisis since the February 2021 coup against the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. More than 2.7 million people had already been forced to leave their homes in Myanmar due to the ongoing civil conflict.
In addition, authorities are investigating unconfirmed reports that dozens of migrant workers are missing following landslides in a gold mining area in the central Mandalay region, the spokesperson said.
Humanitarian aid blockages
State media reported that flooding in the region and around the capital Naypyidaw had caused landslides and destroyed power plants, buildings, roads, bridges and homes.
A resident of Sin Thay, near Naypyidaw, told AFP on Friday that he had spent the night in a tree with his two children to protect themselves from rising waters. In Mandalay region, villagers used an elephant to reach land unaffected by flooding.
Northern Vietnam, Laos and Thailand were also hit hard by flooding and landslides after Yagi brought torrential rain when it hit the region last weekend. Nearly 300 people died, including 233 in Vietnam, where many more are still missing, which could push the toll higher.
In Myanmar, the junta has in the past blocked international aid or thwarted foreign assistance programs. In mid-June 2023, it suspended travel permits for aid groups trying to help about a million victims of Cyclone Mocha in western Myanmar. The United Nations had denounced the decision “incomprehensible”.
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