Sawt Falasteen - Myanmar marks new year festival mourning quake losses

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.

Many still lack working latrines and need to queue for drinking water, and the weather forecast for heavy rains has them fretting over their makeshift homes.

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.

"Everyone is in trouble this year," said 55-year-old Ma Phyu, camping with nine family members north of Mandalay's quake-damaged Royal Palace.

"I have to prepare the pot with the flowers because it is our tradition. But my heart is heavy."

The children in her family had been ordered not to splash water in the street for fear their neighbours would criticise them for celebrating as the city mourns.

Myanmar's ruling military junta has commanded the five-day festival to have no music or dance.

Since the March 28 quake Mandalay temperatures have soared up 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.

More than 5,200 buildings have been destroyed according to official figures, while more than two million people are in need as a result of the earthquake, the UN says.

It 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 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.

The tremors were felt as far away as Bangkok, where a high-rise under construction collapsed and trapped dozens of workers.

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.

H.Nasr--SF-PST