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BANGKOK — The death toll in Myanmar from floods and landslides brought on by Typhoon Yagi has risen to at the least 74, with 89 people missing, Myanmar state television reported Saturday.
Due to the difficulties in obtaining information, there are fears that the variety of victims may very well be even higher.
The latest official death toll announced by the country's military government was greater than double the 33 reported on Friday. Typhoon Yagi had previously hit Vietnam, northern Thailand and Laos, killing greater than 260 people and causing widespread damage.
The latest figures were announced after state media reported that General Min Aung Hlaing, chairman of the ruling military council, said Myanmar had asked other countries for assistance.
According to reports, nearly 240,000 people have been displaced. According to the UN Refugee Agency, there have been already 3.4 million displaced people in Myanmar in the beginning of September, mainly as a result of war and unrest in recent times.
In Myanmar, low-lying areas within the central regions of Mandalay and Bago, in addition to in eastern Shan State and the capital Naypyidaw, have been under water since Wednesday.
Min Aung Hlaing and other military officials inspected flooded areas and reviewed rescue, relief and reconstruction efforts in Naypyidaw on Friday, the state-run Myanma Alinn newspaper reported. The report said he had instructed officials to contact other countries to acquire rescue and relief efforts for victims, as other countries affected by the storm have done.
“It is necessary to initiate rescue, relief and rehabilitation measures as soon as possible,” he was quoted as saying.
The exact extent of the damage remains to be unclear, but there are fears that the death toll could rise significantly. Local news agencies are reporting that over 100 persons are missing.
Determining the variety of victims and damage and providing aid is difficult. Myanmar has been in civil war since 2021 after the military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. Independent analysts estimate that the military controls far lower than half of the country.
State television news on Saturday evening said that 24 bridges, 375 school buildings, a Buddhist monastery, five dams, 4 pagodas, 14 power transformers, 456 lamp posts and greater than 65,000 houses had been damaged by flooding in the middle and east of the country.
Naypyidaw is considered one of the regions worst affected by the floods. Myanmar's media group Eleven Media reported on Friday that record rains had damaged several pagodas in Bagan, the country's ancient capital, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The rain, considered the heaviest in 60 years, had caused partitions of several centuries-old temples to collapse, it said.
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