Myanmar Floods Kill Two, Displace Ems of Thousands

July 24, 2017, at Three:51 a.m.

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A woman carries water bottles and foods distributed by an aid organization during a flood in Kyaikto township, Mon state, Myanmar July 22, 2017. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun Reuters

YANGON (Reuters) – Flooding across large parts of Myanmar has displaced more than 100,000 people, causing two deaths, while dramatic riverbank erosion has washed away a Buddhist pagoda, officials, residents and state media said on Monday.

Water levels have risen steadily since unrelenting monsoon rain began to lash the heart of the Southeast Asian country in early July, driving some people to higher land or seek shelter in Buddhist monasteries, a disaster ease official said.

“The situation is under control, but what happens now will depend on the weather,” Ko Ko Naing, director general of the ministry of social welfare, ease and resettlement, told Reuters.

“We are ready to support the flood-hit areas because flooding happens every year.”

The government has provided food and other assistance to a total of 116,817 displaced people by Monday, as well as longer-term shelter for those outside settlements where flood waters are not expected to subside instantly, he said.

One man drowned in the floods in the Sagaing region and another was swept away while crossing a stream in Chin state, said a resettlement official in the ministry, Kay Thwe Win.

On Saturday, pics of the Buddha’s footprint that draw pilgrims to a pagoda in Magway region were submerged by the rising waters, albeit no harm was instantly apparent, the state-run Global Fresh Light of Myanmar newspaper reported.

A petite dam also collapsed in the Bago region on Saturday, it said.

Movie provided to Reuters by a Buddhist monk near Pakokku, five hundred twenty km (323 miles) north of the commercial hub of Yangon, showcased a gold-leaf-covered pagoda slipping into the furious waters of the Ayeyarwady on Thursday.

The abbott at the pagoda, U Pyinnya Linkkara, said flooding was common in the area during the monsoon that runs from May to October, but this year’s floods caused alarming erosion.

Some riverside villages have been washed away entirely, he said.

“The villagers are now frightened to live here,” he said. “The flooding has now decreased, but erosion resumes.”

(Reporting by Wa Lone; Writing by Simon Lewis; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

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