HIGHLIGHTS
• Communities struggle to recover from worst flooding in decades
• Hundreds of thousands helped by local response and recovery efforts
• 11,000 people remain in flood evacuation sites in Chin and Sagaing
• Floods response and recovery continues in Rakhine; one of the worst hit areas
• Limited humanitarian access to conflict affected civilians in Sumprabum, Kachin
• Up to 6,000 displaced by fighting in Southern Shan
• Most of the displaced have returned to Kokang
FIGURES
People displaced in Rakhine State > 130,000
People displaced in Kachin and northern Shan states > 100,000
FUNDING
$190 million requested for the 2015 Humanitarian Response Plan (US$)
44% funded ($83.7 million)
Myanmar Revised Floods Response Plan requests $67.5 million
55% funded ($37.3 million)
Relief and recovery efforts continue following the worst flooding in decades
Floods and landslides kill 172, affect 9 million and temporarily displace 1.7 million On 30 July, Cyclone Komen made landfall in Bangladesh, bringing strong winds and heavy rains to Myanmar and resulting in severe and widespread flooding that affected over 9 million people across 12 of the country’s 14 states and regions. This followed heaving flooding in some parts of the country over the previous month. On 31 July, the President declared Chin and Rakhine states, and Magway and Sagaing regions as natural disaster zones. According to the Emergency Operations Centre, 172 people were killed between June and October and over 1.7 million were temporarily displaced.
From the beginning, affected communities demonstrated remarkable resilience, returning quickly to their areas of origin to start rebuilding their lives as soon as the flood waters receded. There was a huge outpouring of generosity from local communities in the affected areas and beyond, supported by an extremely active local civil society and strong contributions from the private sector. Relief and recovery efforts were led by local as well as Union-level authorities who mobilized quickly to coordinate the response. In Nay Pyi Taw the Government officially activated its Emergency Operations Centre for the first time.
Bilateral support was provided by governments in the region and around the world. The United Nations and international organizations also mobilized to support the Government-led response. In strong contrast to the situation in 2008 after Cyclone Nargis, the Government welcomed international assistance and there was strong cooperation from the start, with concerted efforts being made to ensure an integrated approach to emergency relief and longer term recovery. It is clear that many of the lessons learned after Cyclone Nargis had resulted in vastly improved national preparedness and response, and this no doubt saved many lives. For example, much better early warning systems and emergency preparedness measures were in place in areas like Ayeyarwaddy, which were badly affected by Cyclone Nargis and which had benefitted from many subsequent disaster risk reduction efforts. However, places like Sagaing, Magway and Rakhine were far less well prepared for a flooding emergency on this scale and communities continue to face major challenges in recovering from the devastating effects of this disaster.