Canadian man held in Myanmar

Myanmar (Burma) police detained a Canadian man on 24 March after crossing the border from Thailand but little information is known of the details according to the news.

The 62-year-old Ron Zakreski of Vancouver Island was confirmed to be held in the Southeast Asian country according to his sister, Brenda, who said "People are working on it, they don't tell us much either."

The CBC News reported that the traveler-photographer is receiving consular assistance according to Ottawa foreign affairs office.

Meanwhile, Bangkok and Manila extended their help in cash and in kind to Nay Pyi Taw that suffered from a magnitude 7.0 earthquake on 24 March along the Laos-Thai border and killed over 150 (official death toll: 73) and hurt 125 people.

Xinhua news agency said the typhoon-hit Thailand donated US$100,000 (THB 3 million) and the Philippines handed over US$50,000 to Myanmar for its relief and recovery efforts.

In addition, the Royal Thai Army, some Thai companies and private individuals sent cash and in-kind donations on Thursday to the earthquake victims in Tarlay in the northeastern Shan state.

In a related development, rescue teams are having difficulties on Friday in accessing southern Thailand that is under massive flood waters due to the heavy rains that devastated the southern part of the country this week and killed at least 25 people, said NTD TV.

The Thai government augmented its evacuation efforts by deploying Black Hawk helicopters to prioritize the rescue of elderly, women and children.

Many schools had been made as temporary shelters of the thousands of locals.

Close to one thousand tourists had been evacuated by Thursday.

Due to the inaccessible and submerged roads, authorities are struggling to bring relief supplies.

Power supply has been cut off in some areas and some residents have no food for several days.

Although the rains have waned, the water level needs to be observed closely and that landslides are still possible in many areas, said the Thai Meteorological Department.

Watch the attached video.