City authorities ignore flood victims in Pegu

Wednesday, 01 September 2010 21:56 Mizzima News

Rangoon (Mizzima) – Torrential rain and resultant flooding has forced thousands of people from their homes in the Lower Burma city of Pegu and surrounding districts, residents said.

Some residents added that junta authorities had done nothing to help the displaced taking refuge in schools and temples, and one official even said residents should have prepared for the floods and taken care of themselves.

Reports today said waters in the city were receding, after the government weather bureau, the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology Department, said yesterday that the level of the Pegu River was still rising at 11.30 a.m., without giving exact rate or height.

However, state-run media reported today that the level of the Pegu River had reached 30 feet (924 centimetres) at noon yesterday, 5.5 inches above the “danger mark”.

Hundreds of flood victims were being sheltered in three Buddhist monasteries on the outskirts of the city. Though exact numbers of flood victims were unavailable to Mizzima, residents and monks in the areas estimated that the number was definitely more than 3,000.

“Today, the water has receded and the situation is not bad as it was. Yesterday, many people became homeless and there are more than 500 taking shelter in my monastery,” an abbott from one of the monasteries said.

Mizzima learned yesterday that about 5,000 homes on Shwe Thar Liaung Road, and in the Kyaukkyisuu, Zaiganaing, Ywathit and Kyuntharyar wards of Pegu, were evacuated as floodwaters rose. All schools in those areas were closed.

Prahita monastery Abbot Keik Ti and his devotees yesterday distributed food packets to flood victims in the city, but a resident said yesterday that “even motorcycles and cars were facing difficulty commuting”.

“We could not even reach the market. All businesses and shops have closed. It will be difficult to clean the debris … even after the water receded,” a resident near Shwemawdaw pagoda said.

The residents said the authorities in Pegu had failed to provide any relief assistance or supplies to the flood victims.

However, a Pegu Peace and Development Committee official placed the responsibility for emergency aid back in the hands of residents.

“The Pegu River experiences floods every year. The daily papers also warned that the river was rising to a danger level. They [residents] need to prepare for disaster management. The flood is not unusual for the people of Pegu”, the official said.

Floodwaters first reached the Pegu highway bus terminal on Monday afternoon and water was a foot (30 centimetres) deep across the Rangoon-Mandalay highway, with fewer highway and passenger buses seen on the main artery between Burma’s largest cities.

“The flood disrupted the goods flowing from Pegu to Rakhine [Arakan] State, middle Burma and upper Burma … other states and divisions were also affected,” cargo operator Kyaw Hla, who lives on the Rangoon-Mandalay Highway in Pegu, said.

A state-run newspaper reported yesterday that the level of the Pegu River rose above the danger line of 910 centimetres (about 29.86 feet), citing measurements taken at noon on Monday. The level had started rising late on Saturday and the newspaper warned the next day it would soon reach the danger line.

According to the weather bureau, this is the second flood in Pegu this year.

Large areas also across Pegu and Magway divisions and Shan and Mon states were flooded, with major roads inundated, the bureau said.