South Myanmar floods, landslides kill at least 8, says rescue worker

YANGON – Heavy floods and landslides in southern Myanmar have killed at least eight people, with up to 30 still missing, a local rescue worker said on Sept 28.

Myanmar’s southernmost Tanintharyi region has been hit by heavy rain since the night of Sept 25, part of an intense weather system also hitting neighbouring Thailand and flooding Bangkok over the weekend.

“We have recovered eight bodies, while between 20 and 30 people are missing” in Tanintharyi’s Launglon township, said Hein Htet of local volunteer group People’s Administration Team.

He said three of the recovered bodies were of teenagers who had gathered at a local monastery on Sept 27 but were swept away by a landslide that hit their village, burying 18 buildings.

“There are still people and villages in the danger zone with continued rainfall,” he said.

The authorities have not yet released any official toll in a country whose civil war complicates aid efforts.

“We are inundated not only with the scale of the flood but also with the lack of resources. This is a natural disaster in the conflict area,” said Hein Htet.

Myo Min, chairman of the volunteer Dawei Zabuthiri Emergency Medical Service, said some villages had become accessible only by foot, and aid teams had found hundreds of residents displaced from their homes in monastery shelters.

“Rescue workers have not yet been able to fully manage the entire disaster area,” he told AFP by telephone.

Myanmar, a country of 51 million people, ranks among the 10 nations most vulnerable to climate change, according to non-profit Germanwatch.

It has also suffered from drastic aid cutbacks following US President Donald Trump’s decision to slash Washington’s humanitarian budget.

In Thailand, Bangkok declared a flood disaster over the weekend after almost 48 hours of heavy rain left homes, shops and roads waterlogged. AFP