Heavy rains, landslides hamper travelers in Hakha

21 August 2013: ‘Continuous’ heavy rains over the past few days have triggered landslides on the Hakha-Gangaw-Mandalay road, causing serious delay in transportation.

Landslides occurred around Mile Post 19/7 and 12/4 in Chin State last Friday and Saturday, according to reports.

A resident in Hakha told Chinland Guardian: “It has been pouring down for several consecutive days. We are afraid of travelling because we know about the road situation during rainy season.”

Passengers wishing to travel to Chin State via the Hakha-Gangaw-Mandalay road are reported to have been waiting for clearance of the blockage, the New Light of Myanmar said.

A government employee in Hakha said: “The situation on the Hakha-Falam-Kalay road is also terrible. In summer, it takes us only about a couple of hours. But now people get there at night even with no landslides on the way.”

Speaking to Chinland Guardian, one of the Hakha community leaders said rains, whether heavy or not, can easily make the roads muddy and slippery because they are not properly constructed and maintained.

“Therefore, we have problems like this every single rainy season. This is not new at all but we still face travel chaos until today. We even get fed up with blaming the same thing on the same reason,” added the leader.

Engineers and workers are assigned duties on main roads of Chin State to maintain the roads and clear the landslides with the use of heavy machinery, according to the government-run newspaper.

Another heavy landslide is reported to have completely destroyed the road between Tedim and Tonzang towns in Chin State.

Meanwhile, Kalay of Sagaing region and its surrounding areas, mainly populated by Chins, have been flooded due to rise of water level caused by heavy rains in recent days.

Sources said that the situation has got even worse since yesterday, making transportation and travelling very difficult even with a motorbike.#