How Myanmar's devastating earthquake turned the spotlight on a man-made disaster

I don’t recall the road to Mandalay as vividly as the journey from it. 

In 2012, my friend and I were traipsing around Southeast Asia. Myanmar was just reemerging as a travel destination after years of a widely held boycott to stop the tourist dollar going into the military dictatorship’s pockets. 

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Mandalay was our first stop. We did some temple-spotting, walked across the 1.2km-long, teak-built U Bein Bridge and watched a group come together to fell a particularly tricky tree. There was a boat trip across the Irrawaddy River to Mingun, where there’s the beautifully ornate, pearl-white Hsinbyume Pagoda, a 90-tonne bell and immense 50-metre-high stupa. Climbing to the top, you have to be wary of the giant cracks caused by an earthquake in 1839.

On departure we arranged an overnight bus trip to temple-studded Bagan, 200km southwest. Instead of a taxi, we were taken to the bus stop in the back of a pickup truck, exchanging waves with people zooming past us on scooters who’d smile or pull funny faces.

We were packed onto the bus; upturned buckets were laid down the aisle to fit in more passengers. Before setting off, everybody was handed a sickbag. The roads through Myanmar are twisty and largely unpaved. Travel sickness is common. The paper bag sadly wasn’t a help to the elderly man behind me who relieved himself (twice) from his seat. It took days for my Lonely Planet to dry out.

We were dropped in Bagan in the early hours. No streetlights – and even if there had been, no street signs. Armed only with a piss-soaked guidebook, we were lost. Out of the darkness stepped a local hero who took us to where we needed to go. A couple of days later, while cycling around the temples, my friends’ handlebars sheared off, attracting a huddle of helpers who affixed a tree branch to the frame to get us home.

In the time since, the hope that felt tangible in Myanmar is gone. Dictatorship returned. Thousands from Rohingya Muslim communities have been killed in a campaign of ethnic cleansing, with one million refugees fleeing the country. Civil war has led to almost half of 54 million citizens living in poverty, surviving on 59p – or less – per day.

Then last month’s earthquakes. At least 3,000 people are known to have died but the number will rise as bodies continue to be recovered.

The epicentre was close to Mandalay, on the Mingun side of the river. In the days after the earthquake, the military continued to carry out airstrikes against pro-democracy rebels in the same region, where aid is most needed. “Carrying out air strikes and attacking civilians where the earthquake struck is inhumane and shows a blatant disregard for human rights,” said Amnesty International’s Myanmar researcher Joe Freeman.

The inhumanity didn’t begin with the earthquake. A week before, 3,000 people from a village five miles south of Mingun had to escape for their lives, not because of natural disaster but a raid by junta troops who, according to local sources, arrested any male villagers they encountered and torched 20 houses.

An earthquake grabs headlines (until the next catastrophe occurs elsewhere and focus moves on) but this natural disaster has turned the spotlight on an ongoing, pernicious, man-made one. When tragedy strikes we see faces of despair, victims suffering. No smiles or cheeky bikers sticking out their tongues. With this humanitarian crisis, I wanted to remember a little of the humanity.

Steven MacKenzie is deputy editor of Big Issue. Read more of his writing here. The DEC brings together 15 UK aid charities to provide and deliver aid to Myanmar. Find out more and how to donate here.

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