Struggling to stay afloat: Residents sitting on boats and an improvised raft on flood waters in Demoso township in Myanmar’s Kayah state. — AFP
The death toll in Myanmar in the wake of Typhoon Yagi has reached 268, with 88 people missing, the junta has said, as state media reported the first arrival of foreign aid.
Yagi swept across northern Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar more than a week ago, triggering floods and landslides that have killed 588 people across the region, according to official figures.
The floods in 56 townships in Myanmar had resulted in “268 deaths and 88 people missing”, the junta’s information team said in a statement.
It also said that nearly 270,000ha of rice and other crops had been submerged, and more than 100,000 farm animals killed.The previous death toll reported by state TV was 226, with 77 people missing.
The floods have heaped more misery on a country where millions were already displaced by more than three years of conflict unleashed by the military’s 2021 coup.
The UN has warned that as many as 630,000 people could be in need of assistance in Myanmar in the wake of Typhoon Yagi.
Last weekend the junta issued a rare appeal for foreign aid to help cope with the disaster. — AFP
