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Myanmar

Stories of Impact: Roads to Recovery in Myanmar

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PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

Heavy rains brought intense flooding and landslides in Myanmar from July to September 2015. Over 1.6 million people were temporarily displaced and 132 lives lost, with vulnerable populations most severely affected. In response, the Government of Myanmar, the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), the World Bank, and more than 17 partner organizations worked to rapidly assess the damages and priority interventions across 14 sectors.
A $330,000 grant from GFDRR initiated an in-depth dialogue on disaster risk management (DRM) with the Government, leveraging three World Bank projects totaling $353 million, focusing on recovery and reconstruction in the agriculture and transport sectors, and strengthening DRM.

CONTEXT:

Myanmar is one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries, ranking 9th out of 191 countries in the INFORM Index for Risk Management. Torrential rains from July 2015 and the onset of cyclone Komen triggered severe and widespread flooding and landslides across 12 out of 14 states. Half of the most-affected 40 townships were in the two poorest states: Rakhine and Chin.
Landslides severed road connectivity, making the transport sector the most-impacted public sector, with agriculture sustaining the heaviest damages and losses overall.