Myanmar’s military regime has provided minimal relief supplies despite claiming to have received over 40 billion kyats (US$ 19 million) in donations since severe flooding hit half the country in mid-September, according to flood victims and charities.
The bulk of donations – 32.2 billion kyats (US$15.2 million) – came from crony tycoons in a stage-managed ceremony in Naypyitaw last Tuesday. Another 10 billion kyats was received on Saturday amid continued pleas for donations by the junta.
Crippled by the financial burden of the coup, economic mismanagement, and the armed national uprising, the regime is desperately short of funds for relief efforts in the aftermath of the disaster.
Making matters worse, it looted the disaster response fund established by the National League for Democracy government it ousted in 2021. After the putsch, Min Aung Hlaing siphoned 370 billion kyats from the fund and distributed it to his chief ministers at state and regional levels for agricultural and development efforts. Of the remaining 70 billion kyats, he lent 30 billion to small- and medium-sized companies to grow oil crops, according to former officials of the ministry.
As a result, it is struggling to provide relief aid even for flood victims in its nerve center of Naypyitaw, let alone devastated areas in bordering Karenni State and southern Shan State. Meanwhile, it has been busy conducting airstrikes on resistance-held territories and preparing for a population census to compile voter lists for an election it plans to hold next year.
A flood victim from Letpangon in Tatkon Township, Naypyitaw, one of the villages hit hardest by floods, said: “Authorities have not yet informed us how much [rehabilitation money] they will provide for each household. They have not yet even registered households hit by floods. Individual donors and companies have donated cash amounts from 50,000 to 300,000 kyats for each household damaged or destroyed by flooding.”
Victims returning to villages in Tatkon Township say they need proper assistance from a junta-funded disaster relief program.
A Letpangon villager said: “We need timber, bamboo, nails and roofing sheets to rebuild houses. Thousands of acres of fields were flooded and are now covered in silt. It’s difficult to tell whose farms they belong to. Authorities must redraw farm boundaries based on their official land documents. They must also conduct a systematic relief and rehabilitation program. Even then, it will take time to restore our farms to health.”
Junta newspapers recently claimed the regime was providing food and necessities for flood victims in Tatkon town, one million kyats in compensation for the families of 11 residents killed by floods in neighboring Pobbathiri Township. relief supplies in Karenni State’s Loikaw and Karen State’s Hlinebwe. Although the reports were accompanied by photos of food and cash distribution, the relief efforts are understood to have reached only a small portion of these townships.
Floodwaters have also risen further in townships along the Belu Chaung River in Karenni State as the regime releases water from Moebye Dam on the border of Shan and Karenni states. Residents report it will take months before the floodwater recedes.
In some of the hardest-hit villages, in Mandalay Region’s Yamethin, Kyaukse, Pyawbwe and Thazi townships, residents and rescue volunteers say they have received no assistance from regime authorities. Junta assistance is also absent in the southern Shan townships of Kalaw, Nyaungshwe, Inle, Hsihseng and Hopong, where some villages remain cut off by landslides.
Flooding and landslides have killed dozens and damaged property in Kalaw, once a popular tourist destination whose economy has been in decline since the coup. Residents report only receiving food and relief supplies from individual donors and say the regime is not even helping clean-up efforts in Kalaw town, let alone rural areas.
Several Kalaw villages in the Taung Koelone mountains are still cut off by landslides, with villagers having to clear roads by themselves funded by individual donors.
“The road was blocked after a mountainside collapsed, cutting off easy passage to and from Kalaw,” said a villager from the Taung Koelone foothills. “Sections of the railway have also collapsed. We are rebuilding the road using machinery we rented with our own money.”
The regime has also restricted relief access to other areas, including Taungoo Township in Bago Region where more than 80,000 people are affected by floods.
“Donors can provide supplies in Taungoo town, but they need to seek approval from the authorities to cross the Sittoung River,” a charity worker from Taungoo town said. “The regime even limits the amount of rice each household receives from donors. Charities arrived but were barred from not distributing their rice after the weight of individual packages exceeded the regime limit.”
Many villages in rural Taungoo are still cut off and have yet to receive any assistance.
In Taungoo town, junta authorities have opened around 40 relief camps, which are receiving cash donations. Several Taungoo residents report that the donation process is not transparent.
More than two weeks on from the floods, no regime aid has reached Karenni and southern Shan states except for certain urban wards.
In Karenni State, only Loikaw is receiving regime assistance while charities are barred from traveling to Demoso, Moebye and other townships badly hit by floods.
In southern Shan State, only relief camps in Nyaungshwe town are receiving regime supplies, while nearly 200 inundated villages surrounding Inle Lake have been left to fend for themselves.
Flood victims in Hsihseng Township have received no regime help, with aid limited to just a few volunteers.
“Around 20,000 people are affected by floods in Hsihseng, where the floodwater has not receded and it is raining again. Recently, the [junta-allied militia group] Pa-O National Organization provided supplies to [neighboring] Hopong. But relief workers have not reached here. We urgently need food and clothes.”
Junta boss Min Aung Hlaing visited Hsihseng and Loikaw before the floods on Sept. 4, calling for reconstruction of the two towns after their recapture from resistance groups.
Floodwaters receded long ago in Tachilek on the Thai border, but flood-hit families are still relying on charities for food, in stark contrast to victims just a few hundred meters away in Mae Sai who are rebuilding their houses and restarting their businesses.
According to regime figures, 148,643 people have been affected by floods. The United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported on Saturday that the disaster has actually affected nearly one million people in some 70 townships.
Nine of Myanmar’s 15 states and regions, including the capital Naypyitaw, suffered severe flooding and landslides after the remnants of Typhoon Yagi brought heavy rain in the second week of September.
The official death toll from the disaster rose to 433 this week, surpassing the 260 fatalities reported in Vietnam, which was hit directly by the typhoon. Neighboring Thailand has reported only 42 flood-related deaths while Laos has recorded just four.
Min Aung Hlaing said his regime is funding relief efforts with around 30 billion kyats from public funds in addition to over 40 billion received from donors. Meanwhile, flood victims who have lost all their belongings wait for food and drinking water to be provided by individual donors.
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