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Flood Victims Accuse Government of Ignoring Their Plight

By Khun Sam | July 9, 2007

Victims of the floods that devastated several areas of Burma have accused the central and local governments of doing little to help them.

No one expects any help from the government, Esaid one Thandwe resident, Kyaw Lin. «The government never has helped.» The floods made about 5,000 families homeless in Thandwe Township, Arakan State. The flood waters receded at the weekend, but the town faces a huge clean-up operation. Homes, schools, markets and office buildings are awash with mud and silt.

Transport in the region, as well as in Rangoon, Pegu and Mon State, was disrupted by the floods.

In Hlegu Township, Rangoon Division, the water remains up to 2 meters deep in places, residents reported. Two hundred homes had been flooded and around 1,000 people displaced, they told The Irrawaddy on Monday. Water had been freed from a local dam to ease the flooding.

State-run newspaper The New Light of Myanmar reported on Monday that some schools in Rangoon's Tharkayta, Hlegu, Hmawbi and Taikkyi Townships and in some townships in Pegu Division had closed because of the floods.

People in Ye and Thaton townships in Mon State had sought refuge in monasteries, the newspaper reported. The railway line between Dawei and Ye had been temporarily closed.

A Pegu resident told The Irrawaddy that about 1,000 homes had been flooded, forcing householders to seek refuge in school and monasteries. A bridge in Pegu had been destroyed by the flood waters.

Kyaw Lin said flood victims were concerned about the risk of flood-related diseases such as dengue and diarrhea.

Rangoon-based weekly The Myanmar Times reported that 3,000 people had fallen ill with dengue in the first six months of 2007. Thirty had died.


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