10 Dead, 100,000 Affected by Monsoon Floods
By Nan Lwin 30 July 2018
YANGON — Monsoon floods have affected nearly 100,000 people and killed at least 10 across Karen and Mon states and Bago Region in southern Myanmar, according to government media reports on Monday.
According to the Karen State government, two children and a man died after they abandoned their home in search of shelter and their boat capsized.
In Mon State, three soldiers went missing after falling into the floodwaters on Friday. The government declared off three of them dead on Sunday after one of their bodies was found near the Yangon-Mawlamyine Highway.
The monsoon rains have flooded some 1,000 villages, destroyed roads and bridges, and forced 54,000 people from their homes over the past week.
The National Natural Disaster Management Committee issued evacuation orders on Sunday and said that 163 camps have been set up across southern Myanmar.
Large stretches of paddy fields and farmland inundated with muddy water and homes flooded to their rooftops could be seen in aerial photos of affected areas shared on social media. Some of the photos showed flood victims wading through waist-deep water in the rain, many carrying children and pets.
Many parts of Myanmar are hit by severe flooding every year during the monsoon season, damaging farms and infrastructure across the country.
Myanmar suffered its worst monsoon flooding this decade in 2015, when 100 people died in the floods and at least 330,000 people were displaced, according to ReliefWeb, an information site run by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
According to the site, Myanmar ranks 2nd out of 187 countries in an index of global climate risk and 9th out of 191 countries in an index of risk management, which measures their risk of humanitarian crises and disasters.
Click on each state or region on the zoomable map for data.
