Tessa Wongreport of Sakhonbbc / Tessa Wong
Ko Naing, who lives in Thailand, says he feels helpless and depressed by reading the news on the earthquake
The last time Soe Ko Ko Naing saw his back-on-it was in July, at home by the banks of the Irrawaddy river.
Ko Naing, a supporter of the Myanmar resistance against the military junta, was about to flee the country. Living in Min Kun, a small town in the military bastion zone of sagaing, Ko Naing trusted anyone enough to tell them about his plan – except his beloved Oo Oo (“ uncle ” in Burma).
“I told him that I was going to Thailand. He thought it was a good plan. He wished me good health and good security,” recalls Ko Naing, a 35 -year -old labor rights.
Almost a year later, Ko Naing is safe in Thailand. But his Oo Oo was killed by the powerful earthquake that struck Sagaing near Mandalay last Friday, making at least 2,000 lives heard.
“I have white nights. I still suffer,” said Ko Naing.
“I have no remorse to leave the country, because I had to do it. But I feel guilty because our people need us most now. I feel helpless.”
Ko Naing is one of the millions of myanmar diaspora, looking forward to their difficulties, by far, following his greatest earthquake in a century.
Like him, many experience survivor’s guilt and a feeling of helplessness. For some, these feelings are aggravated by the fact that they cannot come back easily to help save efforts or check relatives, because they would face political persecution.
Thailand welcomes the largest global community in the Myanmar diaspora with around 4.3 million Myanmar nationals, although the figure is much higher if it includes undocumented migrants.
As a richer neighbor, he has long attracted people from Myanmar who make up a large part of his migrant workforce. The military coup of 2021 and the subsequent civil war only inflated their ranks.
Some worked in the construction sector – many 400 workers from a Bangkok skyscraper who collapsed due to the earthquake would have Myanmar – while others work in the agriculture and seafood industries in Thailand.
A Monday morning misty in Samut Sakhon, a fishing port near Bangkok which is home to many Myanmar workers, men carrying the Longgyi Burmanesses and the women with Thanaka made a Dalton on their cheeks, I joked in the alleys of a morning market.
The banners announcing SIM cards with cheap prices to call Myanmar were plastered in the buildings, while the stores displayed Thai and Burma panels.
“We have seen online videos of buildings collapse and people trapped under the rubble. We feel so sad not to do anything,” said the 30 -year -old factory worker Yin Yin, who, like many in the crowd, is worried about the situation at home.
The owner of the Thant Zin workshop, 28, which is a city of sagaing not affected by the earthquake, cried the collapse of pagodas and old -centuries temples in its region. “What a disaster! I feel so bad … We have never undergone this extent of damage before.”
BBC / Tessa Wong
Samut Sakhon is home to a large community of Myanmar migrant workers
Through the city, Ko Naing was seated in his office, checking the updates on his family in Myanmar. At least 150 of his relatives live in or around Sagaing and Mandalay.
Friday’s earthquake was so huge that he could feel in Thailand, India and China. That day, when Ko Naing was lying in his bed in Samut Sakhon hundreds of kilometers from the epicenter, he said he felt the room tremble for about 30 seconds.
He immediately went to social networks and discovered that the earthquake occurred near Min Kun. Then he came across a photo of the Ava of Sagaing bridge – a local landmark – lying in mutilated ruins in the Irrawaddy river. “I was shocked and devastated, I have a lot of parents in this area. I said to myself:” It had to be false news “. But it was real.”
With slow communications in Myanmar in the immediate earthquake of the earthquake, Ko Naing heard his parents until Saturday. Almost everyone was safe and explained, it was said, with the exception of a large distant aunt who died in Mandalay-and his OO.
A week earlier, Min Kun and her environment had been bombed by the soldiers targeting the resistance of the People’s Defense forces. Almost the whole family of Ko Naing in the city fled to Sagaing City or in an area controlled by the military in Mandalay.
Oo Oo had refused to decamper and took refuge in the village monastery, knowing that the soldiers would not attack the Buddhist sites.
But Friday, the monastery completely collapsed when the earthquake struck. His body was found in the rubble on Monday.
Ko Naing remembers Oo Oo as a 60 year old man open and frank. In an area dominated by the army, the two linked themselves to their shared support for resistance, especially after the coup.
In summer, the two spent the afternoon by the river, lunch and catch up with the news. His great-uncle did not have a phone and social media, and Ko Naing would help him check the updates on the civil war. “I was his personal news agency,” he joked.
Oo Oo had to withdraw from his work as a Bateau boat when he underwent a stroke that left him partially paralyzed. However, every morning, he was walking at the tea room in his family and frying Ee Kyar Kwe, or fried sticks.
“He was my source of inspiration, especially in difficult times … He was the only one I could talk to. I got my resilience on his part,” said Ko Naing.
Getty images
Many historical and pagodas points of sagaing and mandalay have been damaged by the earthquake
This resilience was something that Ko Naing had to draw when he made his dangerous escape from Myanmar with his wife and his five -year -old son. He was wanted by the army, who had issued an arrest warrant for participating in peaceful demonstrations.
His family went to the border where they illegally crossed Thailand. While they were going into darkness in front of a Thai border police station, the family stumbled on a large pipe and dropped to the ground. Her son fell back on his head. Ko Naing feared the worst.
But in his relief, his son let out a strong cry. Ko Naing slapped his hand on the child’s mouth, picked him up and sprouts towards a passer of people who awaits them with a motorcycle. They first went to the Thai city of Mae Sot before finally going to Samut Sakhon, where they obtained the right to stay in Thailand.
Although he is now safe and has a good job, Ko Naing said: “To be honest, I’m very depressed at the moment.
“First, there was the pandemic, then the coup d’etat, then the army killed people who oppose it. People were moved.
“Then the earthquake added to suffering. Even after the earthquake, the army continues bombing.
“I continue to think that it would be good if we can be there, if we can do something … It is depressing to live here, see the news of my country.”
He works with the Myanmar diaspora to collect donations and send humanitarian assistance to the victims of the earthquake at home. They also help myanmar construction workers affected by the collapse of the Bangkok building.
“If we always feel depressed, no one will help our people … It’s good that we are alive. We can always do something.
“We have to decide on how to rebuild, how we can move on.”
