AFP and Europa Press

The newspaper La Jornada
Sunday, September 15, 2024, p. 22

Taungoo. Myanmar’s military junta chief yesterday called for foreign help to mitigate the effects of flooding caused by typhoon Yagiwhich caused at least 74 deaths, 89 missing and more than 235 thousand displaced people in this country bled dry by an internal conflict.

The typhoon also left a trail of destruction in its wake across the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand, with more than 300 dead (most of them in Vietnam) and hundreds missing.

The day before, the spokesman for the military junta, Zaw Min Tun, put the number of people killed by the floods at least 33, which also caused the displacement of another 236,649. Yesterday, the death toll rose to 74.

There have been reports of landslides in the central Mandalay region, where dozens of gold mine workers are believed to be trapped. In Taungoo, an hour south of the capital Naypyidaw, residents were rowing around a Buddhist pagoda on makeshift rafts.

I have lost my rice, my chickens and my duckssaid Naung Tun, who at least managed to get his cows to higher ground.

I am not concerned about other goods. But nothing is more valuable than the lives of people and animals.he added.

The catastrophe is exacerbating the misery of a country plunged into a humanitarian, security and political crisis since the military coup in February 2021 against the elected civilian government of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

More than 2.7 million people in Myanmar have already been forced to flee their homes due to the civil conflict.

An unusual gesture

Official media reported that flooding in the Naypyidaw area, the military-built capital, caused landslides and destroyed electrical installations, buildings, roads, bridges and homes.

A resident of Sin Thay, near the capital, told AFP on Friday that he had spent the night in a tree with his two children to protect themselves from the rising waters.

In a village in the Mandalay region, residents had to ride elephants to reach areas that were not flooded.

The request for help is unusual from the military junta, which has in the past blocked or thwarted outside humanitarian assistance.