Myanmar Quake: ‘I Feel Guilty

The Last Time SO KO stars NAING SAW HIS GREAT-Uncle Was in July, At His Home By The Banks of the Irrawaddy River.

One NAING, A Supporter of Myanmar’s Resistance Against The Military Junta, Was About To The Country. Living in Min Kun, A Small Town Stronghold area of ​​SagaAlg, Ko NAING DID NOT TELL THE HIS HIS PLAN – Except His Beloved Oo Oo (‘Uncle’ in Burmese).

“I Told Him I Thailand. He thought it was a good plan. Hewished Me Good Health and Safety,” Recalled stars, A 35-year-old Labor Rights Activist.

Nearly A Year on, Ko nain Is Safe in Thailand. But His Oo Oo Was Killed by The Powerful Earthquake That Struck Sagaing Near Mandalay Last Friday, Claiming at Least 2,000 Lives.

“I Have Sleepless Nights. I’m Suffering,” Said NAING.

“Have no remorse Leaving The Country, Because I Had. But I Feel Guilty Because Our People Need Need Now Now. I Feel Helpless.”

One NAING IS ONE OF MILLIONS Of Myanmar’s diaspora anxiously watching Afar As Their Country Struggles Following ITS Biggest Earthquake in A Century.

Like Him, Many Are Experiencing Survivor’s Guilt and A Sense Of HELPESSNESS. For Some, These Feelings Are Compounded by The Fact That The Cannot Go Back In Rescue Efforts OR Checking, As They Would Persecution Face Persecution.

Thailand Hosts The World’s Biggest Myanmar diaspora About 4.3 Million Myanmar Nationals, Thought Figure Is Thought To Be Much Higher IF IT INCLUDED MIGRENTS.

AS A Wealthier Nighbour, It has been a Long Attracted People from Myanmar Who Make Up to IT Large Section Of Its Migrant Workforce. The 2021 Military Coup and Subsequent Civil War Have Only Swelled Their Ranks.

Some toil in the Construction Sector – Many Of The 400 Workers A Bangkok Skyscraper That Collapsed Due To Be Quake Were Believed From Myanmar – While Other Others Work in Thailand’s Agriculture and Seafood Industries.

On a Drizzly Morning in Samut Sakhon, A Fishing Port near Bangkok That is Home To Many Workers, Men Wearing The Traditional Burmese Longgyi and Women Thanaka Daebed Thronged The Alleys of A Street Market.

Banners Advertising Sim Cards With Cheap Rates Calling Myanmar Were Across Buildings, While Shops Displayed Signs in Both Thai and Burmese.

“We Have Seen Videos Collapsing and People Trapped Under the Rubble.

Shopowner Thant sworn, 28, who is a town in Sagaing Unaffected by The Quake, the Collapse of Centuries-Old Pagodas and Temples in HIS Area. “What a disaster! I feel So Bad … We Have Never Experienced This Extent of Damage Before.”

Across Town star in Sat in His Office, checking up on the updates on His family in Myanmar. At Least 150 of His Relatives Live in or Around Sagain and Mandalay.

Friday’s Earthquake Was So Immese That It could be felt in Thailand, India and China. That day, As Ko NAMUT Lay in Samut Sakhon Hundreds of Kilometers from the Epicentre, Hey He Felt He Felt About 30 Seconds.

He immediately went on social media and discovered Quake Had Occurred Close to Min Kun. Then he Came Across Picture of SagaAng’s Ava Bridge – A Local Landmark – Lying in mangled ruins in the Irrawaddy River. .

With Slow Communications in Myanmar in the Quake’s Immediate aftermath, star Only Heard from His Relatives on Saturday. Almost Everyone Was Safe and Accounted, Hey Was Told, Except for a Distant Great-Aunt Who Died in Mandalay – And His Oo Oo.

A Week Before, Min Kun and Its Surroundings Had Been Shelled by The Military Targeting The People’s Defense Forces Resistance. Almost All of the Naing’s family in the town to fled to SagaAlg City or to Mandalay in the Military-Controlled area.

Oo Oo Had refused to decamp and Took Shelter in the Village Monastery Instead, Knowing That The Military Would Nottack Buddhist Sites.

BUT on Friday, The Monastery Collapsed Completely When The Earthquake Struck. His Body Was Found in the Rubble on Monday.

One NAING REMEMBERS OO OO AS AN Open-Minded and outspoken 60-year-old. In the area dominated by The Military, The Two Bonded over Their Shared Support for the Resistance, Specially The Coup.

In The Summer The Two Would Spend Afternoons by The River, Having Lunch and Catching Up On The News. His Great-Uncle Had No Phone and No Social Media, And One Naing Would Him Check Updates on The Civil War. “I Was His Personal News Agency,” He joked.

Oo Oo Had to retire from His Job As a Boatman When He suffered a Stroke What Left Him partially paralysed. Still, Every Morning, He Would Shuffle To His Family’s Tea Shop and Fry Up Ee Kyar Kwe, which even doughsticks.

“Hey Was Inspiration, Especially in Difficult Times … He was the Only One I Could Talk. I got My Resilience From Him,” Said Ko nain.

That resilience was something star naing Had to tap on when he made His Dangerous Escape from Myanmar Along With His Wife and Five-Year-Old Son. He was Wanted by The Military, What Had Issued A Warrant For His ARREST Taking Part In Peaceful Protests.

His Family Traveled to The Borderwhere Where Crossed Into Thailand Illegally. As they ran in the Dark Past a Thai Border Police Station, The Family Tripped Over A Large Pipe and Tumbled To The Ground. His son Fell Backwards Head Head. One NAING FEARED THE WORST.

But to His Relief, His Son Let Out A Loud Cry. One Slapped His Hand Over The Child’s Mouth, Picked Him Up, And Sprinted Toward A Motorcycle Waiting For a People Smuggler. They First Headed To The Thai Town of Mae Sot Travelling to Samut Sakhon, Where They Secured The Right to Stay in Thailand.

Though He Now and Has a Good Job, Ko NAING Said: “To Be Honest I’m Very Depressed at The Moment.

“First there was pandemic, then the coup, then the military has been killing people Who oppose them. People have been displaced.

“Then The Earthquake has been added to the suffering. Even after the earthquake, The Military Keeps Bombing Areas.

“I Keep Thinking It Would Be We Can Be There, If We Can Do Something … It’s Depressing Living Here, Seing The News About My Country.”

He is Working With MyAnmar Diaspora To Collect Donations and Send Humanitarian Assistance To Quake Victims Back Home. They Are Helping The Myanmar Construction Workers Affected by The Bangkok Building Collapse.

“IF We Always Feel Depressed, Nobody Will Help Our People … It’s Good That We’re Alive. We Can Still Do Something.

“We Have to Make Up Our Mind On How to Rebuild, How We Can Can Move.”