Myanmar junta troops have burned down 55,484 houses since the 2021 coup, according to independent research team Data For Myanmar.
Data For Myanmar collected reports of arson attacks until January 31.
It said 80 percent of the destroyed houses were in Sagaing Region.
On February 20, junta troops burned down Htoo Gyi village in Shwebo Township, Sagaing Region, according to educational and emergency rescue team S&C.
“Troops raided in the afternoon although there had been no fighting in the area. We all left the villages in the morning as we heard they were coming. They torched all the houses,” said U Mya, 52, of Htoo Gyi.
All of the 200 houses in Htoo Gyi were burned down and the residents are sheltering in other villages and forests where an S&C team is trying to supply them.
“The villagers escaped without being arrested or killed but their properties are gone,” said a member of S&C.
Troops also destroyed all food and crops stored in the villages and killed all the livestock, according to S&C.
Junta troops burned 248 houses in Kantbalu District in three days this week.
On February 19 and 20, Light Infantry Battalion 369 burned 219 houses in Myay Mon and Tayaw Kaing villages in Kantbalu. On Tuesday troops and Pyu Saw Htee militia members destroyed 28 houses in Chaung Kyar village in Kantbalu.
Magwe Region suffered the second-most arson attacks, followed by Chin State.
Data For Myanmar reported that 8,863 houses were burned down in Magwe Region and 1,484 in Chin State in junta arson attacks and shelling.