CNI News
19 August 2022
Due to continuous and heavy rain in Myanmar these days, flooding and landslides are occurring in some regions and states but the charity teams are having difficulty carrying out relief work due to the price of fuel.
The fuel costs nearly fifty thousand (50,000) for a car per day in conducting help and rescue procedures, said U Bo Bo Win, chairman of the rescue group, to CNI News Agency.
He said, “The current situation is that when it rains, we can buy as much oil as we need. There is no problem in this area. When the price of fuel goes up, although we want to go all out in helping the community, there are some things that we need to consider. Let’s say we will go to another place. Is another group already in that area? If they are, we stay put. The main thing is that since the price of fuel is escalating, there are hindrances in our work even though we want to do extensive relief work. More or less, when there is a large-scale influx of people in a neighborhood, help and relief is available within a short period of time and it is convenient to do the job. When there is less man power, there can be delays. There are such things.”
Tachileik City floods
Owing to the difficulties such as the current increase in fuel prices in Myanmar, inability to buy to our desired amount in some regions and the closure of gas stations, the current natural disaster relief operations cannot be conducted as widely as before, said the charity associations to CNI News Agency.
Ko Ditan from the Flower Garden Charity Association in Putao City said, “There are a lot of difficulties. Being located at the far north of Myanmar, it is not a very well-off city. Now we are having difficulty doing charity and social work because there is no more oil available at the gas station. Even if we want to help, cars cannot run due to the lack of fuel. With the current price in Putao, social cars can only run with over 50,000 worth of fuel price. We can help nearby accidents and pregnant mothers who want to go to the hospital. But it is not convenient for us to run long distances anymore. It’s just not available in the gas stations anymore. They are now closed and there is no sign of reopening at the present. It’s just nowhere to buy gas in Putao anymore. There was one station that opened yesterday only for around one hour. If we couldn’t buy it within that window, we just can’t get gas anymore.”
While waiting in line to fill up gas in Lashio on August 13
As the number of donors donating to charity organizations are also getting sparse at the moment, it is reported that the association funds for disaster relief are now being used.
When it comes to encountering awfully bad natural disasters, we are now required to asking for help to the respective government committee if it is according to the current fuel price, said the charity associations.
Currently, due to heavy and continuous rain in some states and regions in Myanmar, the local people who are facing floods have been moved to monasteries as temporary relief.
The current floods in Tachileik City are worse compared with the floods occurred in 2020 and 2021, said an official from Shwe Mae Yang Charitable Association to CNI News Agency.
Tachileik floods philanthropical activities
He said, “How things are going here is the aftermath of the Mekong River basin. After the water rises, the water comes down here and stagnates. So it needs a bit more effort to make things work. It’s more than usual. Now it’s a case of a tropical storm, so this time it’s a little bit bad. About a foot taller than usual. Usually, if you enter about 3 feet in the house, this time the water is almost 4 feet.”
It is seen that the incessant rain on the night of August 16 has caused floods in Yangon as well as in other townships.
According to the weather forecast to today’s evening (August 17th) because of the strong monsoon in the Kapali sea, there can be heavy rain regionally in Yangon Region, Irrawaddy Region, Tanintharyi Region, Rakhine State, Kayin State, and Mon State and the heavy rain may occur in places in Bago Region, announced by the Meteorological Department.
