Myanmar junta issues rare appeal for foreign aid amid scale of destruction caused by Typhoon Yagi

Myanmar’s military-led government made a rare appeal for foreign aid after Typhoon Yagi, the strongest storm to hit Asia this year, caused severe flooding and displaced thousands of people amid a crippling economic crisis.

The junta said the floods had claimed the lives of at least 33 people and displaced more than 235,000 people.

There are fears, however, that the actual death toll could be much higher, as the true scale of the destruction is still emerging. Communications to much of the affected region have been cut off by landslides and heavy flooding.

Burma was one of the last countries to be hit by a Yagi missile, which flew over the Philippines, China, Vietnam and Thailand, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake and killing at least 300 people.

Heavy flooding has hit the capital Naypyidaw, part of an area of ​​about 162 square kilometers (60 sq mi) that was hit hardest by flooding on Thursday, according to an analysis of satellite images by the U.N.-backed Myanmar Information Management Unit (MIMU). Myanmar’s second-largest city, Mandalay, has also been badly hit.

The disaster has exacerbated a range of challenges for a country ravaged by civil war and ethnic infighting since the military seized power in a coup in 2021. The war has brought a crippling economic crisis and hit exports hard.

“Government officials need to contact foreign countries to receive rescue assistance and help for victims,” junta leader Min Aung Hlaing said on Friday, according to state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper.

“It is necessary to undertake rescue, assistance and rehabilitation activities as soon as possible,” he was quoted as saying.

The military has lost contact with parts of the country and is investigating reports of dozens of deaths and people buried in landslides at a gold-mining site in the central Mandalay region, a military spokesman said.

Images showed hundreds of villagers, including children, wading through chin-deep waters in some parts of the country to move to safer areas, with people forced to seek shelter in trees at night to survive the raging floods.

Boats and bamboo rafts were used to evacuate people as their homes were flooded.

Landslides and floods cut off roads and bridges and destroyed power towers, buildings and homes.

Myanmar’s rare call for help comes after the military earlier blocked humanitarian aid from abroad. About a third of Myanmar’s 55 million people survive on humanitarian aid, but many aid agencies, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, have said they are unable to operate in many areas because of access restrictions and security threats.

More than 2.6 million people have already been displaced by three years of civil war that has claimed thousands of lives. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said more than 18.6 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance.

It has been found that floods will accelerate the spread of waterborne diseases and further reduce the availability of healthcare due to limited access to clean water and sanitation.

“They live in fear of armed conflict and violence. The disruption of livelihoods is depriving countless people of their livelihoods,” said Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, on Wednesday.

In 2008, when Cyclone Nargis killed 138,000 people in Myanmar, the then-junta allegedly blocked emergency aid and was accused of denying access to aid workers and supplies.

Last year, Myanmar suspended access for aid groups trying to reach the one million victims of the powerful Cyclone Mocha.