DIMAPUR, AUGUST 23 : Despite claims from Myanmar authorities that the deadly measles that swept through 9 villages in the mountainous Naga Self-Administered Zone of north-western Myanmar was “under control”, the number of deaths continues to increase – with latest figures putting the confirmed deaths at 68.
Last week, one of Myanmar’s state-run newspapers wrote that no more deaths from the viral disease had been reported in the region as the situation was finally under control. Naga representatives in Myanmar have refuted the report since.
According to a reliable source in Myanmar, the situation was “still worst” in the two villages of Kesan Salin and Kesan Karlan under Nanyun Township. He said that the death toll could be more even as some were yet to be confirmed.
While Myanmar authorities maintain that the first person to die of the disease was a 90-year-old man in Htankawnautkone village on June 6 last, Naga representatives contradict this claim. According to the chairman of Council of Naga Affairs (Myanmar), Athong Makury, the deaths started from the month of May.
“But the government (of Myanmar) does not want to count before June. They look at us with sour eyes (sic). They think that we (have) embarrassed them,” he told Eastern Mirror on Tuesday.
He also informed that the food and relief materials dispatched by the government to the affected areas have been very slow to reach the villages. Even as poor roads and bad weather conditions have been cited as the reasons behind the slow transit, CNA officials have questioned the Myanmar authorities’ sincerity.
The CNA officials have asserted that the government authorities have failed to conduct rescue operation that is commensurate to the magnitude of the emergency situation in the affected villages.
“We face such a tragedy today since the government did not do what it should have done in the past. They cited difficulties in communication and transportation as excuses for their lack of an effective response. But who can improve the system? Only the government can offer an effective response,” according to one of the CNA officials.
