Aung Myat Thu — Mon State, Paung constituency lower house MP Mi Kun Chan demanded in a parliamentary session convened on November 22 that an enquiry should be held into the landslide that occurred in Ma Latt hill, Paung Township, Mon State.

MP Mi Kun Chan said in parliament session, “I raised this question to ascertain the true reason of this Thae Phyu Kone landslide happened in Paung Township, whether it is natural disaster or man-made disaster.”

A landslide occurred on Ma Latt hill near Thae Phyu Kone village, Paung Township in the early hours of August 9 which killed 72 people and seriously injured 28. The damage was extensive, destroying 27 households and travellers’ belongings at the foot of the hill.

“According to the survivors from this landslide and those living in the surrounding area, I heard that selfish and greedy sand miners dug into this hill at the foothill and expanding their farms in this area. Then the earth on the hill was out of balance and then the hill collapsed as a landslide when there was heavy rain on that day,” MP Mi Kun Chan said.

She added that geologists and mining experts did not allow sand mining and quarry mining on this hill as it was the continuation of the nearby Kalama mountain range and it contained soft sediment rocks.

Deputy Minister of Union Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Conservation, Dr. Ye Myint Swe, replied at parliament session that according to the report submitted by the field survey team on this landslide incident, the prime cause of this incident was a natural disaster and the man-made element was minor in this disaster.

The Deputy Minister offered some details of the causes.

According to the figures released by Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, incessant heavy rain in last June and August in Mon State caused landslides and inundated nearly 100,000 households in the area and there were over 40,000 flood victims who had to take refuge at 136 relief camps.