MANDALAY—Thousands marked the start of Myanmar’s water festival on Sunday in the ruins of last month’s earthquake, with the country’s most raucous holiday muted by the tragedy of the tremor.
The “Thingyan” festival typically celebrates Myanmar’s new year with water-splashing rituals symbolising cleansing and renewal, but the central cities of Mandalay and Sagaing lie devastated from the 7.7-magnitude quake.
Two weeks on from the disaster which killed more than 3,600, hundreds are still living in tent encampments peppered among pancaked apartment blocks, razed tea shops and demolished hotels.
Early on Sunday families were buying clay pots and plant sprigs customarily placed inside homes to welcome the new year — even though some had nowhere to put them.
“My heart is heavy. Our neighbourhood used to come together to celebrate Thingyan but we cannot do it this year,” said 55-year-old Ma Phyu, camping with nine family members north of Mandalay’s quake-damaged Royal Palace.
Her grandchildren usually pester her to buy them squirt guns, but this year she has nothing to offer.
“I don’t see any way that they can be happy,” Ma Phyu said.
More than 5,200 buildings were destroyed in the March 28 quake according to official figures, leaving more than two million people in need, the UN says.
Many survivors in Mandalay and the neighbouring city of Sagaing still lack working latrines and need to queue for drinking water, while the weather forecast for heavy rains has them fretting over their makeshift homes.
Since the quake two weeks ago temperatures have also soared to a parching 44 degrees Celsius (111 Fahrenheit) while at night tent-dwellers are needled by mosquitos before rising at dawn to line up for aid.
A fresh 5.5-magnitude aftershock hit Mandalay Sunday, sending a shudder of fear through the city as buildings were evacuated.
“I don’t want to stay like this,” wept 65-year-old Mar Tin, who was camped among broken concrete and twisted steel.
She said she usually spends Thingyan at a Buddhist meditation centre but this year it was shut.
“I don’t have the strength to be happy. How could I be strong in such a situation?” she said.
Unhappy new year
The ruling military junta has commanded for the five-day festival — usually Myanmar’s most raucous holiday — to have no music or dance.
AFP reporters in Mandalay heard no music and saw only a handful of children playing with water pistols.
“I wish to see my children splashing water and running around like I did when I was a child,” said Aye Aye Myint, 47, who was camped with her three children on an open market ground.
“Now we have been split from our friends and relatives.”
The UN has issued an emergency plea for $275 million, following US President Donald Trump’s evisceration of Washington’s aid budget which has already hobbled some UN operations in Myanmar.
The World Food Programme says it is being forced to cut off one million people from vital aid in Myanmar this month because donations have dried up.
Myanmar has been riven by a civil war following a 2021 coup which spurred mass poverty and displacement even before the quake.
Despite an announced ceasefire, monitors say Myanmar’s military has continued air strikes, while the junta has accused anti-coup guerillas and ethnic armed groups of maintaining their offensives.
“At a moment when the sole focus should be on ensuring humanitarian aid gets to disaster zones, the military is instead launching attacks,” said UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani in a statement this week.
