Flood-affected Victims still Need Aids on Kawt-Lon Island

Relief aids are still needed for over 2,000 people from 15 villages on Kawt-lon Island in Hlaingbwe Township, Karen State after the island became flooded by the swelling river caused by a week-long rainfall, village officials said.

“Our entire island was submerged. The water level has dropped by two feet now. Even though the water level has dropped, we still need food. The water won’t drop quickly. We still need aids if there is a plan to continue to support us,” Saw Myo Maung Maung, administrator of Mya-lay Village Group, told Karen News.

Although local social organizations, donors, the Karen Literature and Culture Association, relief organizations from other areas, and officials have donated rice, cooking oil, salt, drinking water, and other dry rations, they are still not enough for the people so they have not been distributed yet, he continued.

Over 2,000 people live in 15 villages on Kawt-lon Village, comprising six villages from Mya-lay Village Group and nine villages under Ko-Maung Village Group. The majority of the residents grow vegetables and paddies.

Local residents said all the farms and plantations have been submerged in the recent flood.

“Not only people but also pigs and cattle faced difficulties when the water rose. All the food has been swept away in the water. Everything we have planted has been submerged. Now, we have nothing to eat. We have to come and stay at this Kaw Lon Gyi Monastery and eat here. I have never seen such kind of flood like this before,” Naw Mu Dal from Kawt-lon Island said to Karen News.

A total of 7,668 homes have been submerged and 53 relief camps have been opened for 37,699 people after six townships in the Karen State have been flooded since July 22 due to continuous rainfall and swelling of the Than-lwin (Salween) River and Thaung-yin (Moei) River.