Myanmar’s new wound, already ravaged by war

Only now, with the reestablishment of communications, is the scale of the disaster that has occurred in the country beginning to be assessed. The dioceses of Taunggyi and Kengtung, in Shan, have been completely isolated. Several local sources have confirmed that the coup junta does not have the resources to deal with the situation and the population has been left to its own devices. The PIME Foundation is reactivating the “Myanmar Emergency” aid fund.

Rangoon () – As the hours pass, the scale of the devastation caused by Typhoon Yagi in Myanmar is becoming increasingly clear. The damage is made all the more serious by the context of the country, which has been mired in civil war for more than three years.

Myanmar’s coup junta has appealed to the international community for help in dealing with the aftermath of the calamity that has swept across Southeast Asia, leaving several hundred people dead. The Burmese generals who took control of the country after the coup in February 2021 reported just over 200 dead and more than 300,000 displaced, but the real figures are much higher, local sources warn. The eastern regions, in particular the states of Kachin, Shan and Kayah – where hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the civil conflict already live – have been the most affected, along with the regions of Bago and Magwe.

Only today have some telephone operators managed to restore communications, according to sources on the ground, but in many places there is still no electricity. During the passage of the typhoon last week, all flooded areas, such as the dioceses of Taunggyi and Kengtung in Shan, were completely isolated.

The full extent of the damage is only just beginning to emerge. Landslides and avalanches have occurred in Taunggyi, which is located at a certain altitude. The areas with the worst damage are on the plain near Lake Inle: “Families have lost everything, only the carcasses of dead animals remain, and children are starting to get sick, especially with diarrhoea” due to the stagnant water, the sources explained. It is estimated that at least 260,000 hectares of crops have been destroyed, the source of livelihood for the local population in the difficult situation of the civil war that has ravaged Myanmar for three years.

According to Radio Free AsiaAt least 20,000 people in 170 villages around Inle Lake have been forced to flee their homes since September 11, with some residents saying they had never seen “such severe flooding” before. Hundreds of people have flocked to parishes to beg for food and help.

The situation is different in Rangoon, where the water level in the rivers has risen, but for the local population it is a normal situation: “In the peripheral areas the houses are flooded because they are built of bamboo and have no infrastructure,” explained some local operators. “Now we have to wait for the water to flow south.” But dozens of young people arrived in the city anyway, mainly children of displaced families who had left their villages because of the fighting.

“The military junta has no resources, financial or human, to deal with the disaster, and this has exposed the fragility of the system and made it clear that the people of Myanmar are, once again, basically left to their own devices,” commented others. Even though the emergency had been announced, the military “does not know who to send to help the population because they are already all engaged in the fighting.” This is probably why the president of the military junta, General Min Aung Hlaing, has been forced to appeal to the international community: “It is not just a question of a lack of will, financial resources are exhausted,” the sources continue. It is feared that, as happened with the passage of Cyclone Mocha through Rakhine State in May last year, the military will block access to the flooded areas, preventing the delivery of aid. “However, it is unlikely that the same situation can be repeated in Taunggyi, where there are also militias close to the army.”

He Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M), a think tank that has been monitoring the situation in the country since the outbreak of the conflict, urged neighbouring countries to open their borders to allow aid to be sent, and called on international cooperation agencies to work in collaboration with the resistance forces, which, in addition to having control of different parts of Burmese territory, “have experience in managing humanitarian assistance to people in their areas.” The military junta, on the other hand, lacks “the capacity to ensure that aid reaches the majority of those who urgently need it,” the organization said.

In the face of the devastation caused by this catastrophe, the PIME Foundation has reactivated the “Myanmar Emergency” fund, which has been supporting war victims through local channels for three years. Donations can be made to help meet the new needs created by the flood. this link the methods of payment online or through other methods are explained.