Aikmapyin Internally Displaced People (IDP) camp in Htilin Township, Magway Region and surrounding villages were flooded on 15 May, because of Cyclone Mocha.

The villagers lost their stores of harvested rice, peanuts and cattle. About 9,000 people from 30 villages beside the Maw and ThanThay Rivers were affected.

The flooding happened when the Maw and ThanThay rivers burst their banks. The extent of the damage is not yet fully known as the waters have not yet completely receded, according to Ko Kaung, an official from the Yaw Revolution Army - Htilin, who spoke to Mizzima.

“The entire IDP camp in Aikmapyin was submerged in water. Thank goodness, nobody has died. The [rice] paddy barns, peanuts, and tons of oil from the other 30 villages have drifted away”, he said.

He said that villagers had lost over one hundred baskets of rice and peanuts, many litres of cooking oil and many cows and buffalos were killed.

One of the reasons the flooding was so damaging was because before the arrival of cyclone Mocha, villagers had made preparations for heavy winds rather than flooding.

The affected villagers and IDPs were evacuated to schools and monasteries in villages unaffected by the flooding.