PATHEIN — Nearly 90 houses collapsed and almost 40 others were damaged by a storm surge in several villages in Pyapon Township, Irrawaddy Region on Sunday and Monday.
“The tidal surge accompanied by strong winds destroyed 86 houses and damaged 39 others in two days,” regional Disaster Management Center director U Than Soe told The Irrawaddy.
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Local authorities evacuated 673 residents of the villages to safety. “Tides have been higher than normal for the past three months or so. The tides and winds have eroded the bank, causing the houses to collapse. In particular, huts built on the sandbank outside the villages collapsed. There were no casualties or injuries,” said lawmaker U Bo Bo Zaw Min of the Irrawaddy Region Parliament.
The Pyapon District Disaster Management Center distributed rice and other emergency relief supplies to those affected. It also gave 100,000 kyats each to families whose thatched houses were destroyed and 200,000 kyats each to families who lost wooden houses with corrugated iron roofs, U Than Soe said.
“Disasters have become more severe due to climate change. The government is working as hard as it can, but civil society organizations and members of the public also need to cooperate with officials and be prepared; only then can the impacts be minimized,” he said.
Tidal surges have also damaged houses in Kyaikto and Paung townships in Mon State as well as in Thongwa Township in Yangon.
Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.
