Typhoon Yagi Strikes Myanmar: More than 100 Killed, Hundreds of Thousands Displaced

By Staff, Agencies

At least 113 people have been killed in Myanmar, the military government reported, following heavy rainfall caused by Typhoon Yagi which had earlier struck Vietnam and Thailand.

Approximately 320,000 people have been displaced and 64 were reported missing, government spokesperson Zaw Min Tun stated, according to state-run MRTV.

“The government is conducting a rescue and rehabilitation mission,” he said.

The flooding began last Monday, resulting in at least 74 people killed by Friday, according to state media reports.

Marked as Asia’s strongest storm in 30 years, Yagi has destroyed five dams, four pagodas, and more than 65,000 houses from its flooding in Myanmar.

“Central Myanmar is currently the hardest hit, with numerous rivers and creeks flowing down from Shan hills,” the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

The agency highlighted that Yagi’s heavy rain mainly affected Myanmar’s capital city Naypyidaw, including the Mandalay, Magway, and Bago regions, as well as the eastern and southern Shan, Mon, Kayah, and Kayin states.

The damaged infrastructure and disrupted telecommunications networks have hindered the effective gathering of information related to the rising deaths and landslides across the country.

Around one-third of Myanmar’s 55 million population requires humanitarian assistance. However, many agencies, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, cannot operate in most areas due to access restrictions and security risks.

Yagi had already caused fatalities in other regions, claiming at least two lives in China's Hainan Island and 16 in the Philippines, the first country it struck after forming east of the archipelago earlier this month.