The news from Burma's been pretty busy lately, but some of us have been to busy cleaning up to blog. You can get your news updates here.

Chiang Mai was inundated with floods, again, last week. The first flood hit early in August, and was reportedly the worst in 40 years, with the Ping river reaching about 4.75 meters. About three weeks ago we had another, smaller, flood. Then this past week there was another one, even worse, with the river hitting 5 meters. Luckily, sort of, we had more warning and did not actually lose anything. Except the nice new paint job we did after the first flood. The government even gave us a goody bag of supplies, with some prawn mama noodles, toilet paper, sardines, and soy milk. Mmm..thanks Mr. Thaksin, but can I just have the 100 baht in cash next time?

Seems the floods were brought on by a few tropical storms/depressions that have been wreaking havoc everywhere in Southeast Asia. Economically speaking, Chiang Mai has been one of the hardest hit in the north of Thailand, but then, it's also had the greatest cleanup and recovery effort. Heavy rains in Mae Hong Song have caused numerous mudslides, and the refugee camps along the border have been hit hard. Damaged roads and their remote location means alot of the villagers in the region, and many living in the camps, didn't (and probably still haven't) receive much emergency aid from the government.

Burma, meanwhile, has been alternately suffering droughts and floods this year. The government, obviously, is offering no aid to help victims. Since the first flooding in August, over a hundred people have died in southern Burma, with hundreds of homes and schools, and thousands of acres of paddy destroyed. More than a few bridges have been knocked out as well. Presumably, flooding has hit the east and north of Burma as well, although certian parts of central and western Burma still seem to be under a drought. So basically, this leaves villagers isolated, with a shortage in food for the coming cold season, and an increase in diseases like dengue and cholera and typhoid.

Links:

Typhoon Vincente hits Burma and Thailand
Monsoon pains: Flash flood destroys bridge in central Burma
Death toll from storm Damrey rises to seven