'The generals who claim to be Buddhists are the killers'

Peter Popham speaks to an exiled monk about the effects of the Myanmar earthquake on a town that sides with rebels

- Peter Popham

More than a week after the devastating earthquake in Myanmar, the stench of death still poisons the air in the northern Mingun town, a few miles from the epicentre.

A Buddhist monk who goes by the name of Monk Owen and who was until recently the principal of Mingun’s school, tells The Independent: “The situation is very bad. Many in the community have been killed, many injured, and we have had no help from outside.”

Many of the town’s religious buildings have been reduced to rubble and matchwood. Photos show monks and others injured during the quake lying in the open, wearing bandages and being cared for by monks. More than 3,500 people have been killed across the country by the 7.7 magnitude tremor.

Foreign aid teams cannot penetrate here. The only organised rescue work has been undertaken by fighters of the People’s Defence Force (PDF), one of the many militias that have sprung up since Myanmar’s military coup of February 2021, contesting the army’s right to rule.