HAKHA, MYANMAR—
Earlier this year in Hakha, the capital of Myanmar’s mountainous and remote Chin state, days of heavy rain saturated the ground beneath the hilltop town.
On the afternoon of July 28, Teng Mawng, 52, felt the floor of his home rumble as a large section of the earth above the town became dislodged, sending the contents of a lake, along with a mass of dirt and rock, surging through his neighborhood.
“The water rushed past and took away all the land,” he said. “Me and all my neighbors had to move out.”
In what locals say was the worst natural disaster in living memory, towns and villages across Chin state were ravaged by landslides. According to data collected from local relief groups, almost 20,000 people have been displaced and a total of nearly 55,000 people were affected by the disaster.
Months after the landslides, the main roads in the capital Hakha have largely been cleared by bulldozers, but the true recovery has barely started. (Courtesy of VOA News)
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