Five Perish as House Collapses in Mogok Landslide

By D Hline Win 15 June 2018

MANDALAY — Five family members were killed when their house was destroyed by a landslide in Mogok, Mandalay Region, early Thursday morning.

The incident happened in the ward of Aung Thit Lwin in Kathae village tract in Mogok, said Mogok Township lawmaker U Saw Thaung Tin in the Mandalay regional parliament.

“Three houses on the hillside in Aung Thit Lwin collapsed at around 4 a.m. on Thursday, as it had been raining heavily the whole week,” he said.

Family members from two of the houses had been taking shelter at a temporary camp opened at a Chinese temple in the ward when the landslide happened.

“But five family members in the third house were killed,” U Saw Thaung Tin said.

Given the risk of landslides in a number of places due to heavy rains, concerned authorities have been evacuating local people to safer areas.

“There have been a few other landslides reported at several hillside villages in the township. But there had been no casualties [except for the latest fatal case],” said U Saw Thaung Tin.

“As the earth got wet from the rain, houses built on the hillside collapsed. There has been only a small amount of damage apart from the fatal case,” said U Sein Myint, a resident of Kathae.

The Department of Meteorology and Hydrology said on Thursday that scattered rains are likely to continue across Myanmar.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.