Myanmar experiences flooding every monsoon season, but has been hit particularly badly this year.
Rescue workers are racing against time to hold back the tide of humanatarian disaster after the Myanmar government admitted that it was unable to deal with the disaster.
Authorities said it had appealed for international help to provide food, temporary shelter and clothing for more than 210,000 people affected by the widespread flooding following weeks of heavy monsoon rains.
Myanmar's call for international aid stands in sharp contrast to stance taken when it was ruled by generals. The junta had refused outside help in the wake of a devastating cyclone in 2008, when 130,000 people perished in the disaster.
In an unprecidented step the government has appealed to UN agencies and donor countries for humanitarian assistance on its Facebook page and in local newspapers.
The UN said agencies were scaling up their emergency response. The World Food Programme has started providing food rations to 50,000 people, with the aim of reaching 150,000 eventually.
Hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland have been inundated by the floods, with the UN warning that this could, "disrupt the planting season and impact long-term food security."
