Around 1,000 people forced to seek shelter in schools and churches after the Ayeyarwady River flooded in the villages of Nawngching and Laban in Kachin State’s Waingmaw Township urgently need food and drinking water.
Those forced to seek shelter included villagers and people displaced (IDPs) from the Waingmaw Township villages of Shwenyaungpin, Aung Myay 1 and Aung Myay 2, after fighting between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the junta army broke out in those areas in March 2024.
The IDPs sheltering in Nawngching and Laban villages who were already grappling with difficult living conditions now face even more hardship following the flooding, according to an IDP sheltering in Laban Village.
She said to MNJ: “The food shortage was already tough, but the flood made it even worse. Some people covered their rice bags with tarpaulin before they evacuated, but they didn’t have time to move them to higher ground. The bags were left on the ground, got soaked, and ended up ruined.”
Officials at the IDP camps in Nawngching Village also confirmed that both locals and IDPs in the village are in urgent need of food.
The current flooding began on 31 May 2025 when the rising waters of the Ayeyarwady River forced 60 village households in Nawngching and Laban villages along with IDPs from four IDP camps in Nawngching Village and one IDP camp in Laban Village to relocate to temporary shelters.
It is unclear when the waters will fully recede and it has not yet been possible to carry out a survey to assess the full extent of the flood damage.
At about 7:30 am on 2 June 2025 in the Kachin State capital, Myitkyina City, the water level of the Ayeyarwady River peaked at 5cm above the danger level when it reached a depth of 12 metres and 5 cm. But, by 3 June the river level in Myitkyina City was dropping at an average rate of 5cm an hour.
During the 2024 rainy season Nawngching and Laban villages were hit by flooding that destroyed many houses and shelters, forcing local communities to undertake costly rebuilding efforts.
