(Reuters) — Myanmar’s government aid relief team air-dropped supplies to flooded areas in Rakhine state on Monday (August 3) as the death toll rose to 27.
The number of deaths was expected to rise further as relief and rescue teams struggled to reach those in need of help in remote areas.
“First, we focus on food. We’ve prepared boxes of rice, drinking water, instant noodles. We have to drop off these rations six feet above the ground. People will have to collect them and share them,” said San Shwe Aung, a representative of the Ministry of Border Affairs.
Officials said the relief supplies were being dropped from a height of six to 20 feet due to the flood conditions in far-flung areas.
More than 150,000 people have been affected by severe flooding after weeks of torrential monsoon rains caused rivers to over run banks and triggered landslides.
The state was battered by the remnants of Cyclone Komen that made landfall in Bangladesh on Thursday (July 30). Areas northeast of the state capital, Sittwe, including Mrauk U and Minbya, have been hit particularly hard by flooding.
Myanmar’s military junta was sharply criticized domestically and internationally in 2008 for its woeful response to the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis that killed 130,000 people.
This time, the government has looked more proactive in handling the disaster, though it is much smaller, with President Thein Sein and the powerful military chief, Min Aung Hlaing, making visits to affected regions over the weekend and extensive coverage of relief efforts in state media.
The damage to the agricultural sector was also being assessed on Monday.
The state-owned Kyemon Daily reported the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation as saying that more than 970,000 acres (392,000 hectares) of farmland, most of it rice paddy, had been damaged and more than 40,000 acres were completely lost.
