Myanmar’s military chief has made a rare request for foreign aid, state media reported, to cope with deadly floods that have displaced hundreds of thousands of people who have already endured three years of civil war.
Floods and landslides caused by torrential rains brought by Typhoon Yagi, one of the deadliest storms to hit Asia this year, have killed at least 33 people, officials said, adding that more than 235,000 people had been forced from their homes.
“Officials from the government need to contact foreign countries to receive rescue and relief aid to be provided to the victims,” the state-owned Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper on Saturday quoted Senior General Min Aung Hlaing saying.
“It is necessary to manage rescue, relief and rehabilitation measures as quickly as possible,” he was quoted as saying as he was overseeing rescue and relief work.
Myanmar’s military has previously blocked or frustrated humanitarian assistance from abroad. Min Aung Hlaing led a coup against the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, plunging the country into crisis.
The Myanmar Now independent news publication said 66 people had died as a result of Yagi, which killed at least 300 people as it made its way through Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and the Philippines.
Some buildings in Myanmar were swamped by floodwaters and residents, including women and children, were stranded on rooftops before they rescued by boat, according to images posted on social media.
A military spokesman said contact was lost with some areas of the country and they were investigating reports that dozens had been buried in landslides in a gold-mining area in the central region of Mandalay.
At least 3,600 people have been rescued, the government said.
In Taungoo, about an hour south of the capital, Naypyidaw, residents paddled makeshift rafts on floodwaters lapping around a Buddhist pagoda.
Rescuers drove a speedboat through the waters, lifting sagging electricity lines and broken tree branches with a long pole.
Violence has engulfed large parts of Myanmar since the military cracked down on mass protests against its power grab.
An armed rebellion, comprising new resistance groups and established ethnic minority armies, is challenging the well-armed military, amid a crippling economic crisis that could be exacerbated by the floods
More than three million people have been forced from their homes as a result of the fighting, according to the United Nations.
About a third of Myanmar’s 55 million people require humanitarian assistance but many aid agencies, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, cannot operate in many areas due to security risks.
Last year, the military suspended travel authorisations for aid groups trying to reach about a million victims of Cyclone Mocha that hit the west of the country. At the time the United Nations called the decision “unfathomable”.
