PHNOM PENH, Oct 15 — Myanmar is appealing to Asean for assistance in rebuilding schools and healthcare centres that were destroyed by weather-related perils over the last five years.
“We need the support of Asean members and other countries to rebuild our schools and health centres,” Myanmar’s Disaster Management Department director-general Lai Lai Aye told Bernama.
She made the plea during the 47th Asean Committee on Disaster Management conference in Phnom Penh.
Public facilities in regions such as Mandalay, Sagaing, Bago, and Shan State were severely impacted by natural disasters, she said.
“Our country has faced so many disasters in the last five years, Cyclone Mocha, and one year later, were hit by Typhoon Yagi (September 2024) and followed by a major earthquake this year. Our government is doing a lot for the recovery process but we still need additional resources,” she added.
UNICEF has highlighted that children continue to face the brunt of natural disasters and civil conflict in the country.
They have limited access to healthcare services and education, and face insecurity.
Since 2021, around 30 per cent of the 3.5 million internally displaced people this year are children, according to the international agency.
The Asean Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management reported that Myanmar suffered 87 disasters over the last five years, including floods, earthquakes, landslides, storms, slope failures, and industrial accidents.
“Asean members acted in a timely manner to assist Myanmar during disasters. However, we are still in the recovery stage and our government is trying to restore the livelihoods of farmers, livestock, fishers and small and medium industries,” Lai Lai Aye said.
The country is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the region, exposed to earthquakes, typhoons, droughts and floods.
The grim episodes of Cyclone Nargis in 2008, which killed over 80,000 people, followed by Cyclone Mocha in 2023, where over 180,000 people died, continue to haunt the country.
In March this year, a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck the country, claiming nearly 3,700 lives.
