Disasters
Floods
Race against time to clear damaged water sources
Experts are warning that unless urgent action is taken to clean water sources before the end of the monsoon rains, flood-affected communities in Rakhine State could soon face water shortages as thick deposits of mud foul the rivers, lakes and creeks that residents and farmers ...
Strongest El Niño in decades expected
One of the strongest El Niño weather patterns in more than six decades is set to impact Myanmar this year and the director of the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology has warned to be prepared. U Kyaw Lwin Oo gave the stark warning on 2 September, ...
Election in doubt in flood-hit Chin State
The upcoming election may be up to three months late in landslide-ravaged Chin State. While the official nationwide poll is just 66 days away, the Union Election Commission said it is mulling a request to delay voting in Chin State due to lingering effect of the floods. Keep ...
Farmers wait for help to start replanting after floods
Pwinbyu farmers say they are still waiting for the government’s pledged assistance to resuscitate fields that were decimated by floods in July and August. About 35 percent of the fields have been damaged and will not be able to be replanted for some time, said U ...
Food shortages still plague flood victims
Four weeks after President U Thein Sein declared a national state of emergency, the disaster relief effort is still struggling to feed all the flood victims. Community leaders say gaps in the coordination of aid are to blame. More than 451,000 disaster-affected people in states and regions ...
Civil society groups to cooperate on flood rehabilitation efforts
Around 50 organizations involved in relief efforts in flood-stricken parts of Myanmar have agreed to coordinate their efforts toward flood rehabilitation programs in the coming months, according to attendees of a conference held in Sittwe over the weekend. Keep reading ...
Floods persist in Ayeyarwady Delta
While monsoon season flooding has ravaged most of Myanmar, in Ayeyarwady’s Tharpaung township the water has yet to subside below the danger level, meaning access has been severely restricted. Besieged villagers have scrambled onto anything dry, cresting roofs, higher ground, or in some cases, inside half-submerged ...
Flood-hit communities slated for relocation
Residents of 17 villages in Kalay, Kalaywa and Tamu townships plan to relocate their communities to safer sites to avoid future disasters, a Sagaing Region official said on 20 August. U Soe Soe Zaw said 13 villages in Kalay, two in Kalaywa and two in Tamu ...
Flood coordination drastically improved, but not without flaws
According to the National Natural Disaster Management Committee, the ongoing flood crisis has critically affected more than 1.6 million people, displaced over 333,000 households and killed at least 110 people. The massive relief effort is still under way, with the current outpouring of humanitarian aid more ...
As water recedes, mud poses new problems
Even as floodwaters recede, landslide-plagued Chin State and some villages in Sagaing Region remain inaccessible behind a thick wall of mud. For more than a month, transportation to the hard-hit and impoverished areas has been almost impossible. Flash floods wiped out roads and then deposited deep ...
