(Myanmar, 16th) – Myanmar's central region has been hit by severe monsoon flooding, submerging villages and rice fields, further worsening the plight of those displaced by war.
Jo Min, a 53-year-old resident from Wetlet Township in central Sagaing Province, told AFP reporters on Friday (August 14): "I can hardly describe in words the suffering we have endured."
Standing beside an overturned boat, she said floodwaters were rising, and her family now "has nothing at all."
The United Nations said Friday that since July, severe monsoon flooding in Sagaing, Rakhine, Irrawaddy, and Kachin states has affected around 390,000 people, with Sagaing Province alone accounting for 230,000 victims.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) noted that these figures include people already impacted by the civil conflict sparked by Myanmar's 2021 military coup.
Another resident of Wetlet Township, U Sint, said that the small temporary shelters where war refugees live were completely submerged. He said: "Nothing can be salvaged."
He added that the floods destroyed many people's livelihoods: "The rice seedlings have been washed away, and now it's impossible to plant rice... Even if we want to replant, the land hasn’t surfaced yet."
Myanmar's Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement said that as of August 11, heavy rainfall and river flooding in Sagaing Province had forced more than 11,400 people from 3,220 households to relocate to flood relief centers.
Standing beside an overturned boat, she said floodwaters were rising, and her family now "has nothing at all."
The United Nations said Friday that since July, severe monsoon flooding in Sagaing, Rakhine, Irrawaddy, and Kachin states has affected around 390,000 people, with Sagaing Province alone accounting for 230,000 victims.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) noted that these figures include people already impacted by the civil conflict sparked by Myanmar's 2021 military coup.
Another resident of Wetlet Township, U Sint, said that the small temporary shelters where war refugees live were completely submerged. He said: "Nothing can be salvaged."
He added that the floods destroyed many people's livelihoods: "The rice seedlings have been washed away, and now it's impossible to plant rice... Even if we want to replant, the land hasn’t surfaced yet."
Myanmar's Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement said that as of August 11, heavy rainfall and river flooding in Sagaing Province had forced more than 11,400 people from 3,220 households to relocate to flood relief centers.