Myanmar junta makes rare request for foreign aid to cope with floods

Move comes as death toll hits 33 and over 235,000 have been forced to leave homes

Myanmar's junta chief made a rare request on Sept 14 for foreign aid to cope with deadly floods that have displaced hundreds of thousands of people who have endured three years of war.

Floods and landslides have killed almost 300 people in Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand in the wake of Typhoon Yagi, which dumped a colossal deluge of rain when it hit the region last weekend.

In Myanmar, more than 235,000 people have been forced from their homes by floods, the junta said on Sept 13, piling further misery on the country where war has been raging since the military seized power in 2021.

In Taungoo around an hour south of the capital Naypyitaw residents paddled makeshift rafts on flood waters that reached the roofs of some buildings.

Around 300 people were sheltering at a monastery on high ground in a nearby village.

Outside another temple, Buddhist nuns in pink and orange robes waded through knee-deep water.