The United States Must Exercise Leadership to Help Myanmar’s Flood Victims

Commentary by Derek MitchellandJack Myint

Published October 4, 2024

The aftermath of Hurricane Helene has caused devastating effects for the residents of western North Carolina, resulting in loss of lives and property, and has elicited a whole-of-government response by the Biden-Harris administration.

Massive floods are also devastating nations from sub-Saharan Africa to central Europe to Southeast Asia. In the latter, Typhoon Yagi, a Category 5 storm and the first violent typhoon of the season, hit Southeast Asia and southern China in early September and has left scores dead and millions in need of assistance in the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, southern China, and Myanmar.

Amid the widespread devastation, however, Myanmar's situation is unique as it has exacerbated an already precarious set of conditions in a nation beset by political turmoil, economic instability, and ongoing armed conflict.

As international attention fades amid the complexities of Myanmar's political landscape, the United States has a moral and strategic imperative to lead efforts in supporting the people of Myanmar through this natural disaster.

A Devastating Impact

The storm caused extensive flooding in several regions of central and eastern Myanmar. Entire villages were submerged, and critical infrastructure was destroyed. As of this writing, the floods have resulted in more than 300 deaths and left at least 100 people unaccounted for. An estimated 1 million individuals have been affected across the country, with many seeking refuge in overcrowded shelters lacking basic amenities.

Access to essential needs such as food, shelter, clean water, sanitation, and healthcare has been severely compromised, alongside road networks, telecommunications, and electricity infrastructure. The flooding has also heightened health risks, with waterborne diseases like cholera and dysentery threatening vulnerable populations, particularly children and the elderly.

Beyond the immediate impact, the losses in Myanmar's agricultural sector have been staggering. Rice farming, which forms the backbone of the country's agrarian economy, has been hit hardest, raising concerns about food security in the coming months. The UN World Food Programme estimates that 2.7 million acres of farmland have been inundated, worsening the food insecurity crisis that had affected over 13 million people even before the floods began.

A Call for Action

Despite the magnitude of this crisis, international aid has been insufficient. Exceedingly overstretched, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) is operating in Myanmar with only a quarter of its funding requirement. Other countries have vast needs as a result of Yagi, but their relatively coherent national and local governance structures have enabled the mobilization of resources to meet the challenge in a reasonably effective and timely manner.

However, the continued assertion of power by Myanmar's junta (which overthrew the civilian administration of Aung San Suu Kyi after a violent military coup in February 2021) has complicated humanitarian efforts in Myanmar, as aid organizations struggle to overcome significant bureaucratic hurdles and restrictions and navigate around the country's de facto fractures. This is exacerbated further by widespread violence inside the country, including the junta's indiscriminate bombing of civilian locations across central Myanmar. While the United Nations and various nongovernmental organizations have called for a coordinated international response, the political complexities in Myanmar have hindered both an effective mobilization of international support and the delivery of ready assistance to those in need.

As with the international response to Myanmar's civil conflict since the 2021 coup, the absence of international leadership threatens to cost thousands of lives. Given the situation, the U.S. government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Department of State, should take a more proactive role in coordinating international support for Myanmar. The United States can do more to rally support among allies and partners from the public and private sectors across Asia, Australia, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and beyond. At President Biden's recent Quad summit, a meeting of a security grouping comprising Australia, India, Japan, and the United States, the United States missed an opportunity to rally the grouping, limiting its attention to Vietnam's post-Yagi recovery.

Washington can ensure the international community will work not only with international organizations but also with local civil society organizations, which are often best positioned to deliver aid quickly and effectively and ensure assistance gets to those in need and is not siphoned off to empower corrupt local actors.

Congress can also do more to raise awareness and promote the importance of urgently addressing this humanitarian disaster. The recently formed House of Representatives Congressional Burma Caucus, for instance, is in a unique position to lead and coalesce congressional support. A bipartisan coalition of Senate leaders with a longstanding interest in Myanmar is also well positioned to sound the alarm on the rising death toll and looming food security crisis facing Myanmar.

Myanmar's history teaches us that ignoring humanitarian crises can have devastating consequences. In 2008, Cyclone Nargis struck, resulting in over 138,000 deaths and displacing millions. The slow international response and the previous military government's reluctance to accept foreign aid exacerbated the tragedy. It was only through the leadership and creative politicking of the former secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Surin Pitsuwan, that international aid was effectively coordinated.

But out of disaster can come opportunity. Many believe the official mismanagement of Cyclone Nargis was a turning point for international cooperation for reform in Myanmar. In recent years, the international community has been ineffective at best in addressing the tragedy of Myanmar, consigning the country to economic degradation and brutal official violence that has led to the widespread suffering and displacement of Myanmar's people and transnational harm (e.g., the rise of drug and human trafficking, scam centers, and infectious disease).

The United States must learn from Surin's model to seek common political ground among global stakeholders to achieve an urgent humanitarian objective. Swift action and principled leadership are crucial to mitigating the impact of Typhoon Yagi and preventing further loss of life in Myanmar. Sadly, ASEAN this time appears tragically unable to serve that role. The United States can and should use its unique position to step up instead. The United States must not turn its backs on the people of Myanmar, who need help now more than ever.

Derek Mitchell is a senior adviser in the Office of the President at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C., and served as U.S. ambassador to Myanmar from 2012 to 2016. Jack Myint is a fellow (non-resident) with the Southeast Asia Program at CSIS.

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