Landslide Disrupts Thai-Burmese Border Trade

14-08-2008

The Moei river at its normal level at Mae Sot on the Thai-Burmese border. Mae Sot traders on the Thai bank have had to move to higher ground because of severe flooding. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)
A landslide caused by heavy rain has cut the road from Myawaddy to Pa-an in Burma’s Karen State, disrupting Thai-Burmese transport and trade in the Mae Sot border area.

The landslide occurred about 35 miles from the Thai-Burmese border, cutting the main trading route from Mae Sot into Burma, which had also been used to carry relief supplies to the cyclone-devastated Irrawaddy delta. Thai trucks and other vehicles can only get as far as Myawaddy, residents report.

One local resident said three people had died in flooding in Shwe Ko Ko, in Karen State. Flooding also disrupted illegal trade across the Moei River.

Banpot Korkiatkajorn, chairman of Tak’s Chamber of Commerce, told The Irrawaddy that the landslide occurred one week ago. Work on clearing the road was being held up by the lack of heavy earth-moving equipment.

Further north, Thai-Burmese border trade was disrupted last week when the Sai river between Burma’s Shan State and Thailand’s Chiang Rai province flooded the towns of Tachilek and Mae Sai, which stand at either end of the Friendship Bridge between the two countries.

In the Golden Triangle area, where the borders of Thailand, Burma and Laos meet, the Mekong River reached its highest level for 30 years, flooding homes and farmland.

Thailand’s Water Resources Department director-general Siripong Hungspreuk warned that heavy rain in Northern Thailand, China and Laos could swell the river to its highest level ever by mid-August.