Areas of southern Shan State urgently need help to rebuild following the 28 March earthquake that had its epicentre just west of Mandalay City.
The earthquake, that had a magnitude of 7.7 above its epicentre, hit southern Shan State with a magnitude of 5.0.
The most affected area in southern Shan State was around Inle Lake where the most damage and deaths occurred. Damage was also reported in the nearby state capital of Taunggyi and the southern Shan State towns of Pinlaung, Aunglan, Aungban (Aungpan), Mongnai, and Mawkmai.
There has been very little help for southern Shan State from either the authorities or international aid organisations, meaning that rescue and rebuilding efforts are having to be carried out by locals.
The Inle Lake area was still recovering from deadly flash floods caused by torrential rains in September 2024 when the earthquake hit. Many houses built on stilts over Inle Lake collapsed into the lake because of the earthquake.
In the Inle Lake area the earthquake killed about 100 people, some of whom were infants, and it destroyed or damaged around 2,500 houses near the lake leaving about 1,300 no longer fit for habitation.
Reports indicate that 40 villages across 11 village tracts in the Inle Lake area have been affected. Among them, communities in Kaylar Village Tract and Haeyar Ywarma Village, both in Nyaungshwe Township, have been the most severely impacted.
According to reports there is a great need for carpenters as there is a shortage in the area and bamboo is needed to construct temporary accommodation for those who have lost their homes.
A local volunteer assisting with relief efforts in the Inle lake area said to Shan Herald: “In some villages, collapsed houses are being torn down and rebuilt from scratch. But in poorer communities, there's a huge need for help. Electricity still hasn't been restored, so solar lighting is in high demand. Donors have come, but it's still not enough to meet everyone’s needs. In some villages, locals have had to draw lots to determine who gets aid, and only five lucky households in the entire village have received help for rebuilding.”
In Aungban Town, a trading hub in southern Shan State’s Kalaw Township, a hotel collapsed during the earthquake on 28 March, killing 10 people and trapping a further 25 others under the debris. Fortunately all of those 25 trapped people have now been freed by rescuers.
Pinlaung Town and villages around it in Pinlaung Township in southern Shan State were also badly affected by the earthquake.
Two children, aged three and eight years old, died as a result of the earthquake in Nangpan Village, about 8 miles (about 13km) southwest of Pinlaung Town. No external aid from the authorities or aid organisations has yet reached Nangpan Village and the residents are in urgent need of water, medicine, and other assistance according to a resident who spoke to Shan Herald.
He said: “Two children have died, and we desperately need help. The authorities aren't showing up, and even with the [junta-aligned] Pa-O National Organisation (PNO) militia in the area, no one is coming to help us.”
