Typhoon Yagi wreaks havoc in Southeast Asia

Lina Portman2 weeks ago

2 4 minutes read

Typhoon Yagi wreaks havoc in Southeast Asia

Typhoon Yagi, the most powerful storm to hit Southeast Asia this year, has left a trail of destruction in the Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and war-torn Myanmar.

At least 670 people have died in the region, thousands more have been injured and hundreds of thousands have been displaced. The toll is likely to rise in the coming days. The storm has inundated entire regions already affected by seasonal rains, causing widespread flooding and landslides. Many people now have no access to safe water and sanitation, increasing the risk of waterborne diseases.

Residents of Marikina City, east of Manila, Philippines, evacuate their homes on August 12 after heavy rains and strong winds brought by Typhoon Yagi. [AP Photo/Bullit Marquez]

Yagi was classified as a tropical storm on September 1, a day before making landfall in Casiguran, Aurora, Philippines. It left 21 people dead and 26 missing, and thousands have been displaced this week.

Heading west, it reached its peak over the South China Sea, where it was classified as a Category 5, with the strongest sustained winds recorded for one minute at 260 km/h. Only three other typhoons recorded in the South China Sea have reached Category 5, the most recent being Typhoon Rai in 2021.

The typhoon struck Hainan, China, killing at least two people and cutting power to more than 800,000 homes. It made landfall in northern Vietnam on September 7, causing the strongest storm in 30 years. Nearly half of the country's 58 provinces have been affected, affecting 19 million people, or about 20 percent of the population, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Torrential rains that continued until September 12 caused floods and landslides in the mountainous areas of Bac Giang, Hanoi, Lao Cai, Thai Nguyen, Tuyen Quang and Yen Bai. As of September 16, 292 people were killed, 38 missing and over 1,900 injured. More than 230,000 homes were damaged and 380,000 hectares of farmland were destroyed.

According to Climate Impacts Tracker Asia, “In Phu Tho province, floodwaters washed away part of the Phong Chau Bridge, causing at least 13 people to fall into the Hong River. Severe flooding in Thai Nguyen, Ha Giang and the capital, Hanoi, submerged homes, made roads impassable and forced residents to seek help as rising waters reached rooftops. Large numbers of people were evacuated from coastal towns.”

“This is the worst flood I have ever seen,” Hanoi resident Tran Le Quyen told Reuters news agency. “It was dry yesterday morning. Now the whole street is flooded. We couldn’t sleep last night.”

Typhoon Yagi hit northern Laos and Thailand, killing 4 and 42 people respectively. Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai provinces in northern Thailand were hardest hit by severe flooding.

The most severe damage was in Myanmar, which has been embroiled in a civil war since 2021 between the military junta and militias associated with the exiled national unity government. After losing elections in late 2020, the military declared the election “stolen” and seized power in a coup in February 2021.

Before the typhoon, the World Food Programme (WFP) estimated that 13 million people were already suffering from hunger and 3.4 million were displaced. The latest figures show that by 2022, about 40% of Myanmar's population was living below the poverty line.

After Yagi, an estimated 55 million people are now in need of humanitarian assistance, but many areas are inaccessible due to security risks and movement restrictions caused by the civil war.

According to Burmese state media, at least 293 people have been killed by Typhoon Yagi and 89 are missing. All nine states and regions of the country have been affected, particularly the eastern states of Shan, Kayah, Kayin and Mon, as well as the central regions of Mandalay, Magway, Bago and the Ayeyarwaddy Delta.

About 320,000 people have been displaced due to massive destruction of their homes by floods and landslides. Significant damage has also been caused to schools, telecommunications and energy infrastructure and more than 2.7 million acres of agricultural land.

International emergency aid for the victims of the conflict is minimal. The EU, which has pledged billions of dollars to continue the US-NATO imperialist war against Russia in Ukraine, announced on Friday that it would provide €2.2 billion in humanitarian aid to the region. The US has announced only $1 million in aid to Vietnam.

By comparison, a report published in July by the Transnational Institute and Stop Arms Trade found that €426 million of European taxpayers' money was spent on companies supplying weapons to Israel in its genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The United States provided $12.5 billion in military aid.

In its half-yearly report, OCHA said that only 18 per cent of its humanitarian response plans had been disbursed, due to escalating conflicts and government funding cuts. Most of its aid goes to countries affected by US-led wars, including Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan and occupied Palestine. For severely underfunded countries, including Myanmar, aid has reached only 12 per cent of funding needs.

In Myanmar, the government-in-exile and the junta are competing for limited international aid. When Cyclone Mocha hit Myanmar in June, the junta failed to warn people of the storm’s risks and blocked humanitarian aid, putting millions at risk, according to Human Rights Watch.

Typhoon Yagi highlights the increasing incidence of extreme weather events due to climate change. “Every storm, every flood is a stark reminder of the human cost of climate inaction,” said John Aylieff, WFP Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, as the region experiences an acceleration of above-average temperatures, leading to extreme weather events.

Climate Impacts Tracker Asia commented: “Research shows that storms like Typhoon Yagi are becoming more intense due to human-induced climate change, mainly from the burning of coal, oil and gas to produce energy. Analysis by ClimaMeter scientists found that tropical depressions near Vietnam are now up to 20% wetter and 5% windier than in previous decades due to climate change.”

As with any major disaster, the consequences of this catastrophe highlight the incompatibility of human life with a capitalist system based on exploitation and national rivalry. Without a mobilized and unified movement of the working class internationally, based on a socialist perspective, millions more people in East Asia will face increasingly severe climate crises.