Residents of Kone Sawng Village in Pangtara (Pindaya) Township, Southern Shan State, continue to struggle four months after flash floods and landslides destroyed homes and farmland, leaving families without shelter, drinking water, and stable food supplies.

At around 3 a.m. on July 28, flash floods swept through Kone Sawng Village, washing away homes along with rocks and soil. The disaster killed eight people and destroyed 16 houses, residents said.

Villagers say they are still facing difficulties rebuilding their homes and securing safe drinking water.

“We don’t even have enough drinking water. The well we dug didn’t produce water. There is stream water, but it’s not clean. The damaged houses still need to be rebuilt. Only a few people have helped. We are struggling just to get food. It has been four months, and we still haven’t recovered,” said a local man in his 30s.

He added that the village primary school was also damaged by the flood, forcing children to study in a temporary hut. Residents say support from donors is urgently needed to rebuild the school.

A woman from the Thein Gone area said the disaster destroyed hundreds of acres of paddy fields, causing severe food shortages and pushing many families into debt.

“Across the nearby villages, hundreds of acres of paddy fields were destroyed. We have very little food left this year. Next year, we probably won’t have enough to eat. Now we borrow money just to buy food, repay debt, and then borrow again. Before this, when we had paddy, we didn’t worry about food and could save the money we earned,” she said.

According to local reports, nearly all paddy fields in Thein Gone, Ohn Att, Kone Sawng, Kan Thar, Tat Gyi, Shwe Phu Htoe, Naung Ta Khaw, Zaw Gyi, Mong Inn, and Thabyegone villages were destroyed by the flooding.

Amid the ongoing hardship, residents said political parties — including the People’s Pioneer Party (PPP) and the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) — have been campaigning in Pangtara Township ahead of the junta’s upcoming election, urging people to vote while offering no assistance to affected communities.

Currently, houses in Kone Sawng Village are being rebuilt with support from a few donors and through villagers’ collective labor. Residents say they urgently need more help and hope more organizations and individuals will step in.

Pangtara Township is a major rice-growing region, and the floods have caused widespread destruction of paddy fields and other crops.

In 2024, severe flooding affected thousands of people across Myanmar, including in Southern Shan, further worsening the country’s economic and humanitarian crises.