(Reuters) — Aid from local government and non-government agencies arrived at Myanmar’s Sittwe airport on Friday (July 31), after deadly monsoon rains displaced tens of thousands of people, flooded swathes of rice paddy and prompted fears of dams collapsing.
The storms and floods have so far killed 21 people, with water levels as high as 2.5 metres in Sagaing and 4.5 metres in western Rakhine state, according to the government, which on Friday declared four regions disaster zones.
Television footage showed military personnel and aid workers unloading boxes of aid while officials visited affected areas in Sittwe. Elsewhere in the country, local media broadcast video showing aid workers assisting elderly people and trucks carrying evacuated residents.
Myanmar was inundated throughout last month and storms since July 22 have “severely affected” between 67,000 and 110,000 people, according to the United Nations.
Though the rain has stopped in most areas, the recovery effort is a major test for impoverished Myanmar. The country has only basic infrastructure and medical facilities and is ill-equipped to deal with disasters, as shown when Cyclone Nargis battered the Irrawaddy Delta in 2008, killing 130,000 people.