Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Shwe Hlay Chaung village is situated at the fork of three rivers (the Tow and Ayarwaddy rivers and the Twanty canal)
It is seven miles from Twanty Township.
There are 67 houses and a total of 313 people living here.
Before, in the south, there was Ywar Thit Ka Lay village. Now that village has disappeared due to water erosion.
That village was very beautiful, it had a pagoda, a Monastery and a jetty.
Before independence (1948) they lined the bank with stone to prevent erosion
but in 1993 the the stone barrier stated breaking.
Uncle Please tell me about this village's history.
this is a very big village it has existed for nearly 200 years
Before, there were 400 households, now there are less
Some people have moved and some houses have been washed away due to erosion.
Now I am 64 years old
This village is very old.
Now we are living on a small piece of land right next to the water.
You see here and over there, everywhere there is water.
That used to be land instead of water.
This land used to be protected by the barrier.
What losses has the village suffered due to the erosion of the bank Uncle?
We lost many homes
a pagoda fell down into the river
and now there is no place for a footpath.
You moved the pagoda to this place, so do you believe it can avoid being washed away now?
I don't think so; this pagoda, the monastery and other buildings were painstakingly built.
We are worried they may fall into the river because of the erosion
So we need to prevent that by lining the bank with stone.
Please tell us about this school.
We built this school in 2009
When I was a child there was a school in Pyi Taw That, supported by the government in Pa Sa Pa La Eve.
Due to the erosion that school was moved to this place.
You used to live here before, is that correct?
yes
why did you move to your new place?
because of the water erosion and the collapsing bank.
do you know how it happen?
When the river flooded it eroded it till it fell down
Did some house are also fall into the water?
about 40 to 50 houses have been damaged.
before when the bank was falling down slowly it did not worry us.
but when the floods came, people had to run away taking their children
some left their houses in time but some did not.
Wae chaung lay stream has a strong current. At night when it floods it makes a terrible frightening sound.
how does the flood come?
like a tide it comes onto the land and flows down into the river
the village leader told the villagers to move away from the bank but some refused because they had no other land
eventually their houses fell down into the river.
Was the Pyapon river narrower before?
Yes, but due to the water erosion the river has become wider.
when I was a child the barrier was very long but now there is only a small bit left
due to the current?
yes, steadily it has broken it.
there is a pagoda on the bank near the barrier, now it is broken.
Now it is flooding and the river bank is still falling down I am worrying at night, I can't sleep very well because I am living near the bank.
We are wondering who can help save our village from disaster so village leaders please advise us what to do.
In this case we can't afford the money so we have to submit the plan to the irrigation department.
We will ask for help from the village administrator, or should we go from the village administrator to the township administrator?
We need you to decide the best way.
It is better going step by step, then they can let us know what to do
Then as a village we can work together to carry out work that needs to be done.
it will be ok if the government support us. That is all I want to say.
I am the village admistrator, I would like to say that we have to do all we can
We can work together to inform and support those in the houses near the river bank
I will submit our request to the village tract leader and then to the township admistratior.
I think it is a good plan