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Myanmar Catholics help flood victims

In some areas deforestation caused by logging has exacerbated damage from monsoon deluges
Myanmar Catholics help flood victims

A man carries a child through floodwaters in the Bago region, some 68 km away from Yangon on July 29. Heavy monsoon rains have pounded Karen State, Mon State and the Bago region. (Photo by Ye Aung Thu/AFP)

Published: July 30, 2018 09:02 AM GMT
Updated: July 30, 2018 09:17 AM GMT

The Catholic Church in Myanmar has stepped up the provision of emergency assistance to victims of extensive flooding.

Karuna Myanmar Social Solidarity (KMSS) — the Myanmar name for Caritas — said it is distributing relief supplies in the eastern Kayin, Bago and Tanintharyi regions.

Father Paul Thar San, director of Karuna in Hpa-an, the capital city of Kayin State, said 100 bags of rice have been given to flood-affected communities in the area.

The priest has asked the Karuna national office in the commercial hub of Yangon to provide more emergency supplies.

He said several areas that to date had not been able to be reached by relief workers were in dire need of food.

"We are getting more assessments and then delivering aid to other affected areas," Father Thar San told ucanews.com.

Kayin State has been hit with strong monsoon winds and heavy rain since the third week of July, causing rivers to swell.

At least five people have died and more than 100,000 people have been displaced by the widespread flooding, according to the disaster management department.

Father Hubert Myo Thant Oo, director of Karuna in south-eastern Mawlamyine, Myanmar's fourth largest city, said his staff have gone to badly affected Palaw Township and distributed 232 bags of rice in five villages.

"We have used our Lenten fund for the emergency response. And we are planning to provide basic stuff for reconstruction of 33 destroyed houses," Father Myo Thant Oo told ucanews.com.

Another 200 homes were partially damaged by flooding in the villages where ethnic Kayin Baptists, Buddhists and Catholics live together.

The priest said the five villages had not previously experienced such damaging flooding and that deforestation due to rampant logging had made the situation worse.

The Palaw township region is under the control of the Karen National Union (KNU) that signed a bilateral ceasefire agreement with the government in 2012.

Father Joseph Mg Win, director of Karuna in Yangon, said his 30-member team is being sent to 21 affected villages in the Bago Division to assess requirements.

On July 29, the National Disaster Management Committee urged people living near river banks and in lowland areas to move to safer locations.

Myanmar annually suffers the impacts of monsoon rain with more than 100 people dying in 2015 flooding.

In May 2008, Cyclone Nargis devastated Myanmar's Irrawaddy Delta, killing about 140,000 people.

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