Kay Du / Kantarawaddy Times
“Our house was swept away in the flood. Now, we have nowhere to live. And even if we want to fix it, with what? We’re struggling even to find food,” said Daw Du Myar, whose home was destroyed by the floods in September 2024.
Although the house was carried away by the floodwaters, it didn’t go very far. However, it remained submerged for about a week.
“Half of the house was full of soil. We had to dig it out by hand with shovels. Even though we worked every single day, it took almost two weeks to clear it out. We didn’t hire anyone to help because we couldn’t afford it,” she explained.
Daw Du Myar, around 30 years old, is a housewife who also takes care of her elderly mother, who is over 70. Her family lives in Pon Chaung village, in Somo Preh Soe Leh (Shardaw) township, Karenni State.
Their home was a one-story wooden house. After being submerged in water for a week, parts of the pillars and floorboards began to collapse.
Now, her family has cleaned up the flood-damaged home and moved back in. Daw Du Myar and her husband are now living with the elderly mother in the weakened home. However, due to financial problems, they haven’t been able to replace the damaged floorboards.
At the moment, they have opened a small salad shop in their damaged house to earn some income.
Since it is her own small business, Daw Du Myar can both earn a small amount of income for the family and also spend time caring for her mother and child. Still, she worries whether her shop can meet customers’ needs during these hard times.
In the September 2024 floods, many sesame farms in the village were also destroyed. Daw Du Myar said that, at first, donations from donors helped them manage the situation.
“When the floods first started, donors provided rice, oil, and salt. It helped a lot. Rice alone costs more than 100,000 kyats per bag. When donors gave one or two buckets at a time, we were deeply grateful. Everyone was thankful,” she said.
Previously, the couple had planned to build a warm new family home. They began saving timber for this dream back in 2018.
However, their stockpiled wood was destroyed by a junta airstrike in late 2023.
“When I heard the aircraft, others told us everything (wood) was burned and gone. I didn’t even dare go back to check. After the fighting stopped, we returned to check, but there was nothing left, not even ashes,” she said.
At the time, Daw Du Myar’s family was taking shelter in the forest for safety from the fighting.
The timber they had saved for six years to build their dream home vanished in an instant due to a military single bomb. Both she and her husband were deeply sad by the loss of all they had worked for.
While trying to recover emotionally from this loss, another misfortune struck.
“The flood came. We have to stay in others’ shelters. Since the water didn’t reach the shelter where we stayed temporarily, we kept staying. But when we went back to check our home, we couldn’t even see it anymore. We thought the whole house had been swept away. I cried all the way back, thinking we had lost everything. But a week later, when the water receded a little, I saw the roof again, and I felt some relief,” she recalled.
Now, Daw Du Myar and her husband continue to struggle without rest.
“There are very kinds of difficulties. It’s been hard from the beginning. Even borrowing from others is not okay. We just have to make do with what little we have. We can’t rest. My husband does what he can, and I do what I can,” she said.
Like Daw Du Myar’s, many families in Pon Chaung village have faced similar losses.
Regarding the September 2024 floods, village administrator U Thein Htun shared the extent of the damage,
“The damage was extensive. In this village alone, about 23 houses were affected, including those whose owners had moved elsewhere. All the sesame and corn fields were wiped out. Long tillers and motorcycles used for farming were destroyed. Some were able to be fixed to use again, but some couldn’t be used anymore. Others were completely lost. Schools and clinics were also flooded. In some homes, shop goods and livestock like chickens and pigs were swept away,” he said.
In Pon Chaung village, Somo Preh Soe Leh (Shardaw) township, where Daw Du Myar’s family lives, there are over 60 households. More than 20 of these were submerged and damaged by the floods.
Currently, every family is struggling to make ends meet. As the next planting season approaches, many are also facing difficulties in accessing seeds for planting.
