The dust from a devastating earthquake on Friday was still cracked in Minmar when the existential question turned into a mix: can this fatal conflict between tectonic plates, which added another layer of trauma to the land already tortured civil warAlso eat the death of the Myanmar ruling hunt?
An earthquake, which is known to have killed at least 1,000, and probably much more than that, hit the day after the Mjanmar military regime celebrated the country 80. Day of Armed Forces With a parade in Naypyidawa, capital intentionally built a previous group of generals.
The sequence of events was difficult to ignore.
The envelopes and rumors have long been appreciated in the authoritarian country with a little free flow of information. When the ruling generals grabbed power four years ago, they sealed the land and returned to the respect of superstition and propaganda. And earthquakes deal with astrological almanacs who are well abolished in Mjanmar. The popular version says the earthquake signals the destruction of cities in March, while one in July is August Kings and rulers.
The meeting between Junta remains in the cities, as in Mandalay, the second largest in the country and one of the most difficult earthquakes. Daw Marlar Myint, 89, said it was the worst natural disaster she had ever experienced. Retired school principal, she doesn’t wait until July to throw out her prediction.
“We have a saying that a massive earthquake like this way of punishing a cruel and corrupt ruler,” she said. “After killing so many people, Min Aung Hlaing now faces the judgment of nature.”
“Even the bones of those he killed trembles,” she added.
Since the older General Min Aung Hlaing entered the chosen Government of Mjanmar in 2021, civil war He flew in this country of Southeast Asia. Most territories are now in the hands of resistance, and the army has been established in large cities. Junta has terrorized civilians with air attacks that have been surpassed by only those who have been raining on Gaza in recent months.
Mjanmar’s rebels – an clumsy assortment Of the militia of ethnic minorities, opposition politicians and young people who deal with technical wits that took place with unmanned aircraft from the parts of the outstretched jury-they were immediately struggling with little international support. The Mijar army bleeds the soldiers, with the release. Still, he punishes warfare from the jungle, and both sides are desperate for the exit.
And as people in Mjanmar explored the consequences of earthquakes on Saturday, with screams of those trapped under the wreck that still echo through cities, the full extent of devastation is yet to be shaped.
Ko Kyaw works in Singapore, part of the great diaspora of young people from Mjanmar who have escaped from their country to ask for better jobs abroad. He sent the money home to his parents, his wife and two daughters, at the age of 4 and 7. They all died in an earthquake, when their condominium building in Mandalay collapsed to the ground. Their bodies were part of the crowd arranged in a nearby hall, there is no room for burning yet.
Most of its post -colonial history, Mjanmar, formerly known as Burma, ruled military dictatorships. General generations relied on Fortetenenerere and astrologers to keep their political decisions. Former Junta chief consulted with a dwarf who spoke his sister. (That sister continued to predict after her brother and sister died, but her prophecies lost authenticity, according to those who initially paid a lot of money for their solo counseling.)
One former spy chief collected white elephants (real, live species) to burn his power. The earlier leader of Hunte was so superstitious in terms of number nine that he had denominated the currency of the country, including 45 and 90 Kyat Notes. And General Min Aung Hlaing, the current military boss, dedicated the temples and giant to be in Naypyidawa to burn his reputation. He also collected white elephants.
For Generals, perhaps the most doductive prophecy came in 2005. At that time, they saw that the aspects had determined the precise time, which is best suited to the beginning of the secret movement of the capital of Mjanmar from Yangon to the still unnamed construction site in the center of the country. After consulting Fortetenetlers, the trucks started a convoy to the north to what would soon be called Naypyidaw or the residence of kings.
Today, the new capital defends the hills and invulnerable to attack the sea, unlike Yangon. When Cyclone Nargis scored into the old capital and nearby Delta Irrawaddy in 2008, leaving more than 130,000 people dead or missing, Naypyidaw was intact. The generals celebrated their capital with their big boulevards, massive ministries and penguins on ice (again, a real, live species).
But the earthquake on Friday was not so benign for Naypyidaw. The government ministry ruptured. Portraits of top leaders, including General Min Aung Hlaing, fell to the floor. The air traffic control tower collapsed in the capital, killing at least seven people, according to the state media of the Mjanmar.
In the hills not far, the rebel forces observe. With fewer high buildings on the territory they control, the earthquake had fewer influence on them on Friday. But even as the residents of Mandalay and other urban areas, such as Sagaing, dug up ruins with bare hands, pulling out each brick to get closer to possible survivors, the Mjanmar army continued its old habits.
On Friday night, in N There were no victims this time, but certainly two days before they killed four people in nearby villages. Even a week and a half before, 10 people took refuge in a seminary in the same city died in air attacks.
“I just can’t believe they worked air attacks at the same time with an earthquake,” said Lway Yal Oo, a resident of Naung Lin. “Min Aung Hlaing creates a killing field in Mjanmar.”
In Yangon, the astrologer for the top official Hunte said that the belief of the top brass in the signs of the stars did not disappear. If nothing else, they are even more hanging to make faith, how their grip is reduced to the ground, she said. The astrologer, who did not want her name to be used because of the sensitivity of speech about her high military clients, said that General Min Aung Hlaing relied very much on Buddhist talismans to remain in power.
On Saturday morning, the military mediator called her, said the astrologer and asked for help protecting the posture of Junta Junta on Mjanmar. She advised Buddhu amulet to wear at all times.
But, the astrologer said, she thought an earthquake was a wicked sign for a general.
