Airstrike-Devastated Villages in Shwegu Township Urgently Need Reconstruction Aid

Thousands of residents across 18 villages in Myanmar's Kachin State’s Shwegu Township face a severe humanitarian crisis following a month-long campaign of junta airstrikes, local administrative officials and residents report.

Following significant ground setbacks during a failed offensive from August through mid-September, junta forces launched relentless aerial bombardments across the township, destroying thousands of homes, religious structures, and schools, while wiping out livestock.

According to an official from the local resistance-run Shwegu Township People’s Administration, seven villages—Lanku, Myaingthar, Pangtin, Zinbon, Weama, Nanpaung, and Tawlang—were nearly completely flattened.

Eleven other villages, including Thinbawinn, Moesit, Yaele, Paukkone, Bokone, Kyauktalone, Kyuntaw, Ngarbatgyi, Ngarbatwa, Kyaukkyi, and Shwegulay, suffered catastrophic damage, losing roughly half of their housing structures.

“Villages with lighter damage are attempting to rebuild through community self-help,” the official said. “However, the communities that were virtually wiped out need extensive international and local donor support. Families cannot even afford basic tarpaulin sheets for temporary shelters, let alone full housing reconstruction.”

With winter approaching, displaced residents returning to their land are living among rubble without adequate protection from the elements, clean cooking utensils, or basic building supplies.

The destructive air campaign followed an earlier junta offensive launched on June 10. Four military columns—reinforced from Tigyaing and Tagaung in neighboring Sagaing Region—advanced along the Shwegu-Ngaroe Road to claim territory across the township.

Joint counter-offensives by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and allied resistance forces effectively repelled the ground push, forcing junta troops to retreat to Shwegu town before relying heavily on air power and heavy bombardments.