Hundreds of people in Hpakant jade land in Burma's northern Kachin State are battling floods caused by Uru River in the wake of heavy rain since July 4, said local sources. There were unconfirmed reports of a number of miners being killed and injured in mudslides.
The floods swept away hundreds of huts of jade miners along the Uru River following severe landslide in the jade mines. There are heaps of soil and hundreds of houses and government buildings are inundated, said residents of the jade mining city of Hpakant.
The floods have mainly affected areas on the left and right banks of the Uru River. Because of heavy jade mining activities along the river, the watercourse has changed, according to local jade miners.
Seng Tawng and Hpakant, the two major jade mining cities have been flooded since Saturday evening. Hundreds of people have fled to higher land near their cities on their own without the government making arrangements for evacuation, said residents of the two cities.
Unconfirmed reports from locals said, over a dozen people were killed in Maw One quarter alone in Hpakant and many were injured following a series of landslides and floods in the jade land since Saturday.
According to residents of Hpakant, many jade workers and miners were killed and injured in the landslide because their huts were constructed on soil which was dug out from the jade mines.
Most jade workers and miners live in great danger of landslides because the junta's Ministry of Mines is opening new jade mining areas in the villages, said jade miners. It is because of this expansion, jade workers and miners have to build huts on top of the soil dug out from the mines.
In Hpakant city, a Kachin Baptist Church and the Kanbawza Bank in Ngapyawtaw Quarter have been inundated. People could not go for prayers to the church on Sunday because the church was flooded, said church sources.
Eyewitnesses told KNG today, this year’s flood has caused more damage than last year. It also wiped out the man-made concrete river banks along the Uru River in Maw One and Kala Jawng villages.
Till now, the military authorities in Hpakant have not responded and have not arranged for evacuation and relief for the people affected by the floods, residents in Hpakant told KNG.
