The The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said that initial reports indicate that hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland have been flooded. In the worst-hit areas, urgent needs include basic food, drinking water and sanitation.
The emergency exacerbates a dire situation across large swathes of Myanmar more than three years after a military coup led to escalating fighting, increased displacement and extreme security threats.
Initial, World Food Programme plans to assist about 35,000 people are currently taking shelter in evacuation centres in Ayeyarwady. The food packages include fortified rice and biscuits, along with nutritional support for mothers and children, to prevent acute malnutrition.
Sheela Matthew, WFP Representative in Myanmar, warned that the floods “threaten to significantly reduce the rice harvest” and will potentially “endangering the food security of smallholder farmers”.
The Great Challenges
The impact of rising water levels “is likely to affect not only Ayeyarwady but across Myanmar,” she added, so WFP’s response “is aimed at helping mitigate potential food shortages.”
According to Myanmar Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan 2024Even before the floods, 1.5 million people in Ayeyarwady needed humanitarian assistance – a quarter of the population.
United Nations Aid Office OCHA issued a bleak assessment of the country last December noting that It is estimated that 18.6 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance.. “Children are bearing the brunt of the crisis with six million children in need of assistance due to displacement, disrupted health and education services, food insecurity and malnutrition, as well as protection risks including forced recruitment and mental health trauma,” the report said.
Rare intervention
The WFP aid operation marks the organization’s first intervention in the Mekong Delta in nine years; the UN agency last provided aid in 2015 following widespread flooding.
It has also provided aid so far to 130,000 people in communities affected by flooding across Myanmar in Bago, Kachin, Kayin, Magway, Mandalay and Sagaing. “WFP is assessing needs in Rakhine and stands ready to respond,” WFP noted in a press release.
The UN agency’s flood response covers conflict-affected areas, with the exception of Ayeyarwady and parts of Bago, which is one of the few areas in Myanmar free of fighting.
