Latest news with #MaPhyu
Khaleej Times
13-04-2025
- Climate
- Khaleej Times
Myanmar quake victims mark new year camped in ruins
Thousands marked the start of Myanmar's water festival on Sunday in the ruins of last month's earthquake, with the country's most raucous holiday muted by the tragedy of the tremor. The "Thingyan" festival typically celebrates Myanmar's new year with water-splashing rituals symbolising cleansing and renewal, but the central cities of Mandalay and Sagaing lie devastated from the 7.7-magnitude quake. Two weeks on from the disaster which killed more than 3,600, hundreds are still living in tent encampments peppered among pancaked apartment blocks, razed tea shops and demolished hotels. Early on Sunday families were buying clay pots and plant sprigs customarily placed inside homes to welcome the new year -- even though some had nowhere to put them. "My heart is heavy. Our neighbourhood used to come together to celebrate Thingyan but we cannot do it this year," said 55-year-old Ma Phyu, camping with nine family members north of Mandalay's quake-damaged Royal Palace. Her grandchildren usually pester her to buy them squirt guns, but this year she has nothing to offer. "I don't see any way that they can be happy," Ma Phyu said. More than 5,200 buildings were destroyed in the March 28 quake according to official figures, leaving more than two million people in need, the UN says. Many survivors in Mandalay and the neighbouring city of Sagaing still lack working latrines and need to queue for drinking water, while the weather forecast for heavy rains has them fretting over their makeshift homes. Since the quake two weeks ago temperatures have also soared to a parching 44 degrees Celsius (111 Fahrenheit) while at night tent-dwellers are needled by mosquitos before rising at dawn to line up for aid. A fresh 5.5-magnitude aftershock hit Mandalay Sunday, sending a shudder of fear through the city as buildings were evacuated. "I don't want to stay like this," wept 65-year-old Mar Tin, who was camped among broken concrete and twisted steel. She said she usually spends Thingyan at a Buddhist meditation centre but this year it was shut. "I don't have the strength to be happy. How could I be strong in such a situation?" she said. Unhappy new year The ruling military junta has commanded for the five-day festival -- usually Myanmar's most raucous holiday -- to have no music or dance. AFP reporters in Mandalay heard no music and saw only a handful of children playing with water pistols. "I wish to see my children splashing water and running around like I did when I was a child," said Aye Aye Myint, 47, who was camped with her three children on an open market ground. "Now we have been split from our friends and relatives." The UN has issued an emergency plea for $275 million, following US President Donald Trump's evisceration of Washington's aid budget which has already hobbled some UN operations in Myanmar. The World Food Programme says it is being forced to cut off one million people from vital aid in Myanmar this month because donations have dried up. Myanmar has been riven by a civil war following a 2021 coup which spurred mass poverty and displacement even before the quake. Despite an announced ceasefire, monitors say Myanmar's military has continued air strikes, while the junta has accused anti-coup guerillas and ethnic armed groups of maintaining their offensives. "At a moment when the sole focus should be on ensuring humanitarian aid gets to disaster zones, the military is instead launching attacks," said UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani in a statement this week.
South China Morning Post
13-04-2025
- South China Morning Post
Myanmar earthquake survivors mark new year amid ruins
Thousands marked the start of Myanmar's water festival on Sunday in the ruins of last month's earthquake, with the country's most raucous holiday muted by the tragedy of the tremor. Advertisement The 'Thingyan' festival typically celebrates Myanmar's new year with water-splashing rituals symbolising cleansing and renewal, but the central cities of Mandalay and Sagaing lie devastated from the 7.7-magnitude quake. Two weeks on from the disaster which killed more than 3,600, hundreds are still living in tent encampments peppered among pancaked apartment blocks, razed tea shops and demolished hotels. Early on Sunday families were buying clay pots and plant sprigs customarily placed inside homes to welcome the new year, even though some had nowhere to put them. 'My heart is heavy. Our neighbourhood used to come together to celebrate Thingyan but we cannot do it this year,' said 55-year-old Ma Phyu, camping with nine family members north of Mandalay's quake-damaged Royal Palace. Advertisement Her grandchildren usually pester her to buy them squirt guns, but this year she has nothing to offer.
Yahoo
13-04-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Myanmar quake victims mark new year camped in ruins
Thousands marked the start of Myanmar's water festival on Sunday in the ruins of last month's earthquake, with the country's most raucous holiday muted by the tragedy of the tremor. The "Thingyan" festival typically celebrates Myanmar's new year with water-splashing rituals symbolising cleansing and renewal, but the central cities of Mandalay and Sagaing lie devastated from the 7.7-magnitude quake. Two weeks on from the disaster which killed more than 3,600, hundreds are still living in tent encampments peppered among pancaked apartment blocks, razed tea shops and demolished hotels. Early on Sunday families were buying clay pots and plant sprigs customarily placed inside homes to welcome the new year -- even though some had nowhere to put them. "My heart is heavy. Our neighbourhood used to come together to celebrate Thingyan but we cannot do it this year," said 55-year-old Ma Phyu, camping with nine family members north of Mandalay's quake-damaged Royal Palace. Her grandchildren usually pester her to buy them squirt guns, but this year she has nothing to offer. "I don't see any way that they can be happy," Ma Phyu said. More than 5,200 buildings were destroyed in the March 28 quake according to official figures, leaving more than two million people in need, the UN says. Many survivors in Mandalay and the neighbouring city of Sagaing still lack working latrines and need to queue for drinking water, while the weather forecast for heavy rains has them fretting over their makeshift homes. Since the quake two weeks ago temperatures have also soared to a parching 44 degrees Celsius (111 Fahrenheit) while at night tent-dwellers are needled by mosquitos before rising at dawn to line up for aid. A fresh 5.5-magnitude aftershock hit Mandalay Sunday, sending a shudder of fear through the city as buildings were evacuated. "I don't want to stay like this," wept 65-year-old Mar Tin, who was camped among broken concrete and twisted steel. She said she usually spends Thingyan at a Buddhist meditation centre but this year it was shut. "I don't have the strength to be happy. How could I be strong in such a situation?" she said. - Unhappy new year - The ruling military junta has commanded for the five-day festival -- usually Myanmar's most raucous holiday -- to have no music or dance. AFP reporters in Mandalay heard no music and saw only a handful of children playing with water pistols. "I wish to see my children splashing water and running around like I did when I was a child," said Aye Aye Myint, 47, who was camped with her three children on an open market ground. "Now we have been split from our friends and relatives." The UN has issued an emergency plea for $275 million, following US President Donald Trump's evisceration of Washington's aid budget which has already hobbled some UN operations in Myanmar. The World Food Programme says it is being forced to cut off one million people from vital aid in Myanmar this month because donations have dried up. Myanmar has been riven by a civil war following a 2021 coup which spurred mass poverty and displacement even before the quake. Despite an announced ceasefire, monitors say Myanmar's military has continued air strikes, while the junta has accused anti-coup guerillas and ethnic armed groups of maintaining their offensives. "At a moment when the sole focus should be on ensuring humanitarian aid gets to disaster zones, the military is instead launching attacks," said UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani in a statement this week. lmg-jts/dhc
Yahoo
13-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Myanmar marks new year festival mourning quake losses
Thousands marked the start of Myanmar's water festival on Sunday in the ruins of last month's earthquake, with the country's most raucous holiday muted by the tragedy of the tremor. The "Thingyan" festival typically celebrates Myanmar's new year with water-splashing rituals symbolising cleansing and renewal, but the central cities of Mandalay and Sagaing lie devastated from the 7.7-magnitude quake. Two weeks on from the disaster which killed more than 3,600, hundreds are still living in tent encampments peppered among pancaked apartment blocks, razed tea shops and demolished hotels. Many still lack working latrines and need to queue for drinking water, and the weather forecast for heavy rains has them fretting over their makeshift homes. Early on Sunday families were buying clay pots and plant sprigs customarily placed inside homes to welcome the new year -- even though some had nowhere to put them. "Everyone is in trouble this year," said 55-year-old Ma Phyu, camping with nine family members north of Mandalay's quake-damaged Royal Palace. "I have to prepare the pot with the flowers because it is our tradition. But my heart is heavy." The children in her family had been ordered not to splash water in the street for fear their neighbours would criticise them for celebrating as the city mourns. Myanmar's ruling military junta has commanded the five-day festival to have no music or dance. Since the March 28 quake Mandalay temperatures have soared up to a parching 44 degrees Celsius (111 Fahrenheit) while at night tent-dwellers are needled by mosquitos before rising at dawn to line up for aid. More than 5,200 buildings have been destroyed according to official figures, while more than two million people are in need as a result of the earthquake, the UN says. It has issued an emergency plea for $275 million, following US President Donald Trump's evisceration of Washington's aid budget which has already hobbled some UN operations in Myanmar. The World Food Programme says it is being forced to cut off one million people from vital aid this month because donations have dried up. Myanmar has been riven by a civil war following a 2021 coup which spurred mass poverty and displacement even before the quake. The tremors were felt as far away as Bangkok, where a high-rise under construction collapsed and trapped dozens of workers. Despite an announced ceasefire, monitors say Myanmar's military has continued air strikes, while the junta has accused anti-coup guerillas and ethnic armed groups of maintaining their offensives. "At a moment when the sole focus should be on ensuring humanitarian aid gets to disaster zones, the military is instead launching attacks," said UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani in a statement this week. lmg-jts/dhc
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
'No happiness': Misery for Myanmar exiles four years on from coup
Four years after Myanmar's military seized power in a coup, the country is in the grip of a bloody civil war that has driven many of the country's young across the border to Thailand. There they scrape by doing hard jobs for little pay -- often living in fear of being arrested and sent back to Myanmar. AFP met three of them in Mahachai, a district of Samut Sakhon in Bangkok's western suburbs known as "Little Myanmar" for its population of migrant workers. They told of their experiences and hopes and fears for the future -- speaking under pseudonyms for their own safety and that of their families back in Myanmar. - Ma Phyu: 'I lost all my dreams' - "After the coup, I lost all my dreams," Ma Phyu told AFP. Before the military seized power, the 28-year-old was teaching young children while studying at university in Yangon with the aim of qualifying as a teacher. After the February 1, 2021 coup, which ousted the elected civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi, the generals launched a bloody campaign of violent repression against dissent. Resistance has been fierce, led in large part by young people who grew up during Myanmar's 10-year dalliance with democracy. Like thousands of others, Ma Phyu chose to flee Myanmar rather than live under the junta, and now cannot return for fear of retribution from the authorities. Thailand is home to the world's largest Myanmar diaspora -- 2.3 million registered workers, plus another 1.8 million unofficial migrants, according to the UN migration agency IOM. Lacking Thai language skills, Myanmar migrants in Thailand are forced into difficult and dirty jobs including construction, food and farm work -- often being paid below minimum wage. Ma Phyu now works from 5:30 pm to 3:00 am in a fish processing plant, six days a week, regularly scolded by her supervisors for not understanding instructions in Thai. Her husband arrived from Myanmar last year and the couple now live in a single-room apartment in Mahachai. "I can't stand the smell of fish any more. I feel disgusted at work and it's the same at home. Nothing changes, I don't want to live any more," Ma Phyu said. "My previous life was full of happiness. If there had been no coup, there would have been a good life for me." - Lwin Lwin: 'There is no happiness' - In a shabby room in a run-down building in Mahachai, Lwin Lwin practises Japanese grammar with five other Myanmar migrants. The 21-year-old, who fled Myanmar without finishing high school, hopes learning the language will give her a way out of a tough existence in Thailand. "The coup turned my life upside down. I thought I would finish school, go to university and work for the government," she told AFP. "But then the coup happened and all my ambitions were swept away." Like Ma Phyu, Lwin Lwin works in a fish processing factory in Samut Sakhon and lives in a crowded accommodation block. "There is no happiness," she said. "I never thought I would be working in canned fish factory, but no matter what I feel, sad or happy, I have to work." - Thura: 'traumatised until we die' - Thura, 25, fled Myanmar after the junta announced in February last year that it would enforce conscription into the military. Like thousands of others, Thura chose to escape to Thailand rather than fight for a regime he did not believe in, abandoning his dream of running his own garage. "At first I wanted to join a People's Defence Force and fight for the revolution," he said, referring to the civilian groups that have taken up arms across the country to oppose the junta's rule. "But I have many siblings and I chose to come to Thailand." Remittances from workers in Thailand are a vital lifeline for many families in Myanmar, where the civil war has wrecked the economy. In 2022 nearly one billion dollars were sent from the kingdom, according to the IOM. Thura is waiting for his "pink card" -- an official document allowing him to work in Thailand -- and until it arrives he rarely leaves the one-room apartment he shares with his sister. "We will be traumatised by this military coup till we die," he said. "If there were no coup, young people like us would be eating at home with our parents, brothers and sisters. "Instead we are apart from our families for many years. It's not good and I feel sad for us." lpk-pdw/fox
