Myanmar Floods - Food matters

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Chin State is situated in the far western part of Myanmar in a mountainous region. The state used to be a beautiful place with big trees and flowers that surrounded the mountains. Roads winding through the mountains lead to the villages where houses are built on the edges of the hills and mountains. It is a quiet and cool place to live.

Interrupting the calm was heavy rain from Cyclone Komen, which made landfall nearby in Bangladesh on 30 July. The heavy rain caused landslides, damaged roads and bridges, and blocked transportation routes.

As a result, thousands of people are at risk of food shortages as the main road connected to Falam town is seriously damaged.  

“Heavy rain and landslides destroyed roads and bridges. We can’t go to Falam to get food and we have no clean water as well. We lost all our assets on the farm. We are currently facing a food problem. As we could not provide lunch for the children, we had to close our early child care centre,” said Pu Run Luai, Administrator from Relsing village, Falam Township, Chin state.

World Vision Myanmar responded to the need by distributing rice and drinking water to the villages.

“We transported rice from India through the border. From the town [Tedim] to the affected villages, we used cars to transport rice bags. In the places where roads were damaged, we use horses to carry rice bags. We use about 40 horses in our first delivery,” says Thang Muan Suum, World Vision Myanmar programme manager at Tedim.  

One-month ration of rice for each family has distributed to the families in the villages. As of 25 August, Tedim programme has reached 6,981 people including 2,777 children and Falam programme has reached 3,348 people including 1,389 children with rice.

“I heard that about 50 bridges in our township were destroyed. The connection road, from the main town to the villages, is blocked due to landslides. Normally, this is the season to reap corn. But all our cornfields and other plantations were damaged in the landslides. We were so worried as we ran out of rice at home. The women’s group gathered and prayed at the church. No long after, World Vision arrived and delivered one month-quota rice for us. I am overjoyed and don’t even know how to express my happiness and thankfulness. I thank God for granting us rice. Thanks also to World Vision for delivering rice,” says Daw Vun Khan Lian, mother of a child who participates in World Vision programming in Tedim Township.

Deep concerns remain about the long-term food security of the area.  The floods disrupting the planting season, and damaged both crops and farmland that had already been planted.

World Vision Myanmar is responding to the disaster. In place is a 45-day response plan, followed by a one-year recovery plan. 

Article by Naw Phoebe, Communications Manager, WV Myanmar