Mizzima-Aug 12
The Myanmar junta is compounding the dire living conditions of internally displaced people (IDPs) negatively affected by monsoonal flooding, reports NGO Progressive Voice. Over recent weeks, torrential rain and record-breaking floods have had devastating impacts on towns and IDP camps across Myanmar. Countrywide, around 100,000 people have been forced to suffer life-threatening floods, with many left stranded without medicine, clean water, or adequate food and shelter. Ruthlessly compounding the people’s suffering and exacerbating their vulnerability to these natural disasters is a man-made disaster: the Myanmar military junta and its torrential violence against the people, Progressive Voice says. In early July, more than 10,000 residents of Myitkyina, Kachin State, were displaced or trapped on their roofs by severe flooding—the worst since 2004. In late July, record-breaking flooding of the Moei River along the Thailand-Myanmar border killed three civilians, including a child, and displaced nearly 3,000 residents of Myawaddy Town, Karen State. Rainy season—marked by floods and landslides—creates difficulties for transporting food, medicine, and other essential supplies to IDP camps and flood victims. And across Myanmar, the junta is hellbent on making difficulties even worse by blocking routes to reach those in the most dire need. Over the last two months, across eastern and southeastern Myanmar, communities are facing rising cases of malaria, dengue fever, and waterborne diseases—as a consequence of torrential rain and the junta’s weaponization of aid. In the words of Nai Aue Mon of HURFOM, it’s time for the international community to “recognize that the military junta is responsible for all the current human rights violations and the humanitarian crisis” in Myanmar today. Read more at:
