Myanmar’s population is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of natural disasters—especially so when their country is ruled by the military.
In 2008, when Cyclone Nargis hit the country’s Irrawaddy Delta region, more than 130,000 people lost their lives. The enormous death toll was mainly due to the then junta’s failure to issue early warnings of the impending disaster, and its blocking of local and international aid efforts in the immediate aftermath of the storm.
Sixteen years later, under a new military regime that grabbed power in 2021, Myanmar again finds itself devastated by a natural disaster. Deadly flash floods and landslides—unleashed by torrential rains triggered by the remnants of Typhon Yagi—have wreaked havoc on nine of the country’s states and regions, including the regime’s nerve center Naypyitaw, since early last week.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Monday that an estimated 631,000 people have been affected by flooding across the country. The junta said 226 people had been killed as of Monday. The number could easily climb, however, as whole villages have been wiped out by landslides in some areas. The devastation is widespread, and rehabilitation will be a herculean task for Myanmar, which is already reeling from social and economic instability sparked by the coup.
It is the most destructive natural disaster to hit the country since Nargis. But the scale of the devastation could end up being much worse, as many areas have been affected while the cyclone in 2008 was mostly confined to Ayeyarwady Region. Currently, people in the southern parts of the country are bracing themselves for flash floods and landslides as major rivers downstream are now becoming swollen as floodwaters arrive from the north.
The junta’s response to the latest disaster has been outrageous. Families, including children, have had to beg for help via Facebook livestreams as they sit trapped in trees or on rooftops after running for their lives from flash floods. Some of them were trapped in the vicinity of Naypyitaw, where Myanmar junta boss Min Aung Hlaing lives. Though the videos went viral, he didn’t bother to send his soldiers to immediately evacuate them. When villages were turned into vast inland seas and airlifts were the only possible way out, there were no army choppers in sight. Instead, Min Aung Hlaing continued to order his air force to bomb civilians in areas he recently lost to resistance forces. To his shame, the Royal Thai Air Force last week used its helicopters, aircraft and drones to drop food and medicine to Thai communities affected by the flooding in Chiang Rai near the Myanmar border.
For the Myanmar people, there is no hope of help from the junta leader, whose only interest is in maintaining power by any means. Myanmar people can’t help but remember with disgust the previous regime, who showed no mercy to Nargis victims and instead busied themselves with holding a referendum on their military-drafted constitution, cementing their power while letting people in need die. Simply put, people suffer most when those in power have no interest in serving the people. This is what Myanmar is facing now.
Under the circumstances, it’s worth asking whether Myanmar people would face the same fate if the ousted Daw Aung San Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy (NLD) government were still in power. While natural disasters are unavoidable, it’s likely that the people would be suffering less from the current flooding if she was still their leader. The rescue efforts would be more responsive and timely, as her government had a significant disaster management fund and a relatively active Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Ministry. In 2019, the NLD bought a helicopter from Italy to use in rescue missions. After the coup, Min Aung Hlaing looted the fund and charged Daw Aung San Suu Kyi with corruption over the purchase of the aircraft—which has been nowhere in sight during the latest disaster. Most importantly, her efforts would have popular support because her government was elected by the people—a source of constant envy for Min Aung Hlaing.
During the latest disaster, kudos should go to the poorly equipped members of local charities who have ventured out to rescue people in the floodwaters where the soldiers who are running the country fear to tread. Those volunteers’ efforts were made possible by the people who supported them—as we did during the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis—with money, food, life jackets and other resources. Min Aung Hlaing should die of shame to see this.
As the death toll mounted and the scale of the devastation revealed itself, he appeared in public on Friday to inspect some of the damage, appearing to issue instructions in an obvious photo op. He asked for international help despite his suspension of travel authorizations last year for aid groups trying to reach around a million victims of the powerful Cyclone Mocha in Rakhine State. So far, no international aid agency has made an official pledge of help. His closest ally China has been silent, while far-away friend Russia hasn’t responded yet.
Meanwhile, the regime’s propaganda mill has been in full swing, publishing pictures of soldiers wading through water little more than ankle-high in Naypyitaw, carrying people who appear less badly affected than many others. His propaganda team leader barked at the media, especially independent outlets in exile, accusing them of spreading rumors to alarm the public—apparently referring to their efforts to inform people of the misery caused by the floods and deadly landslides, which you can’t read about in the junta’s newspapers. Rather than officially stating how much money the junta plans to spend on rescue and rehabilitation, the regime’s No. 2 leader, Soe Win, who is the chair of the National Disaster Management Committee, shamelessly said he was happy to learn that people were making donations.
Min Aung Hlaing’s regime has made everyone’s life a misery for more than three years since the coup. Indiscriminate deadly bombing of civilians is rampant, millions of people have been displaced, and social and economic hardship has become part of people’s every day’s lives. To this we can now add the natural disaster-related suffering that is mainly due to the junta’s neglect. What’s next? Sadly, there is no end in sight for the Myanmar people’s misery as long as the military rules the country.
