BANGKOK — Floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains in Myanmar have killed 5 individuals and displaced about 60,000 since mid-July, an official mentioned Friday.
The director of the ministry of social welfare, aid and resettlement, Lay Shwe Zin Oo, mentioned 4 youngsters are among the many {dead}. Some components of southern states of Kayin and Mon stay in vital situation on account of heavy rains and rising river water ranges, Lay mentioned.
The low-lying areas in some townships within the southern Bago and the central Magway areas, in addition to the western state of Rakhine, have been inundated by water since Sunday.
Initially, some 60,000 individuals had been displaced however 20,000 have since returned to their house areas. About 40,000 are nonetheless sheltering in sturdy buildings similar to monasteries, pagodas and faculties, she mentioned.
She mentioned included three youngsters within the state of Mon and a mom and little one in Rakhine drowned.
“The flooding is getting worse this week. However, it’s troublesome to say whether or not the present flood scenario is the worst for this yr as a result of the wet season has not but ended,” she mentioned over the telephone.
The state-run Myanma Alinn newspaper mentioned Friday that faculties had been closed within the flooded areas and a few sections of the freeway in Bago had been beneath water. In aid camps in Bago, Kayin and Rakhine, authorities had been offering food, ingesting water, medicines and different important help, the paper mentioned.
On Monday, a landslide attributable to heavy rain swept away about 61 meters (200 ft) -long part of the main mountain freeway linking the Kawkareik and Myawaddy townships in japanese Kayin state, slicing off the busy buying and selling route. There have been no report of casualties.
Myawaddy is a key buying and selling middle on the border with Thailand and state-run media reported it could take a month earlier than site visitors may resume.
Myanmar experiences excessive climate just about yearly through the monsoon season. In 2008, Cyclone Nargis killed greater than 138,000 individuals.
A report revealed Friday within the state-run Myanma Alinn newspaper mentioned there could be thundershowers for the subsequent week throughout the nation.