Relief efforts for flood victims in Taungoo Town and nearby villages in Taungoo Township, Bago Region got underway on 23 September 2024, as floodwaters from the Sittaung River receded.
After the floodwaters receded aid workers were able to get to formerly flooded areas, but there are still many obstacles to assisting the flood victims, according to local civil relief organisations.
Assessing the extent of the flood damage remains a challenge, with some villages in Taungoo Township still dealing with remaining floodwater and mud, travel restrictions imposed by the junta continue to obstruct recovery efforts and make the transport of aid harder, according to Ko Kyaw Thura, an aid worker based in Taungoo Town.
When Taungoo Township was first flooded, junta appointed local authorities prevented all aid vehicles from going to flood-affected villages in the township. Now, some of those restrictions have been lifted and more aid vehicles are able to enter flood-affected areas, though the authorities are still preventing aid from being delivered to the villages in Taungoo Township furthest away from Taungoo Town.
He said: "It's very difficult to accurately assess the damage in some flood-affected areas due to transportation challenges, and in certain places, there are restrictions on travel and aid delivery. These are the main issues we're facing, and they create significant obstacles for aid organisations.”
In some areas where recovery efforts are underway, cases of diarrhoea and seasonal flu are on the rise and some villages require healthcare and medical support.
Homes that were once submerged are being cleaned up, but there are obstacles to clearing and mending other flood-affected house. One of these is the danger of encountering venomous animals who entered and hid in homes to escape the flooding.
The flooding has also contaminated wells and lakes used for drinking water. This means that in many areas sorting out residents’ access to clean drinking water is a more pressing problem than repairing homes.
There is also a critical need for food in the flood affected areas of Taungoo District, according to a young volunteer from Taungoo Town involved in recovery efforts.
He explained: "The most urgent need is drinking water, followed by food. There is a widespread demand for clean drinking water throughout Taungoo District, as many of the wells have become contaminated, making the drinking water issue quite significant.”
39 camps with shelters for flood victims have been set up in Taungoo Town. These are not enough to house everyone and many more rural residents of Taungoo Township are sheltering in religious buildings. Flood victims in hard to reach areas are having to themselves transport food back from locations where it is available to their homes themselves due to a lack of transport to deliver aid.
Some areas of Taungoo Town and several nearby villages were already previously flooded at the end of August 2024 when the junta released excess water from the Ngalaik Dam in Pyinmana Township and the Swar Dam in Yedashe Township. About 5,000 people were affected that time, but only a week after those floodwaters receded the tail end of Typhoon Yagi Struck and caused the current flooding, which is only now retreating and which was considerably worse and more widespread than the flooding in August.
The rain caused surges in the Sittaung River which caused flooding on both banks, including in downtown Taungoo Town
