Flooding inundates Myanmar

Thousands of residents in Myanmar's Ayeyarwaddy region have been forced from their homes after two weeks of heavy rains.

Evacuees from low land rice farms are now living in these make-shift shelters.

With their livelihoods at risk, residents are finding it hard to be positive about the future.

(SOUNDBITE) (Burmese) FARMER, DAW KHIN MYINT, SAYING:

"Now I am selling snacks, cigarettes, and betel nuts for our survival. We cannot go back home. Our houses are still in the water."

(SOUNDBITE) (Burmese) FARMER, U AUNG MYINT, SAYING:

"We have nothing now. We need seeds, fertilizers and some money to grow next season. This is what the farmers like me strongly wish now. Money is very scarce for us at the moment, that's why we are facing difficulties now."

This is the same region that was devastated in 2008 by Cyclone Nargis which killed more than 130,000 people.

Despite the flooded rice paddies, industry experts insist this year's rice exports will not be affected.