Number of landslides increases

28 Jul 2019

Khaing Roe La | DMG

27 July, Sittwe

Some townships in Arakan State face landslides annually and Minbya Township has experienced more landslides than the normal this year.

 Landslide last year destroyed the total of 20 houses along Lay Myo River in Minbya town. About 70 houses have now been destroyed or evacuated this year due to new landslides in the region.

“Destruction due to landslide this year is equal to the destruction from the previous four years combined,” said U Hla Aung Thein, Arakan State MP from Minbya Township.

Local residents living along the bank of the river in Minbya town have been evacuated since early July, and those who have had their houses knocked due to landslide are facing difficulty finding shelter.

U Hla Aung Thein said that the union government has an annual budget for preventing landslide in Minbya, but effective results have not been achieved so far.

A landslide also occurred at a roadside near Zin Chaung village in Kyauk Phyu Township because of the erosion of land connected to bodies of water, Arakan State Hluttaw MP U Kyaw Lwin said.

“A riverbank collapsed at a place 27 miles from Kyauk Phyu town. Landslides broke out every year since we were young. Now, it is close to the Kyauk Phyu -Yangon highway,” the lawmaker said.

The situations in Apauk Wa village in Kyauktaw Township and Pan Myaung village in Mrauk-U Township is extremely serious now.