In the town of Katha, where George Orwell once lived and drew inspiration for Burmese Days, the silence of the northern hills was shattered on March 20 by a military air strike. The target was a monastery sheltering approximately 100 people, including monks and civilians. The attack left several dead and reduced a center of community refuge to rubble.
This strike is not an isolated incident but part of a systematic campaign. Rights groups report a broadening pattern of attacks on religious sites across Myanmar, where monasteries—traditionally the heart of social and spiritual life—are being treated as legitimate military targets. For the people of the Sagaing region, these sanctuaries have become the last line of defense against a compounding series of catastrophes.
The region is currently struggling with a triple crisis: a brutal internal conflict, the lingering devastation of a 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck a year ago and a calculated blockade of humanitarian aid. For the women of Sagaing, this convergence has created a unique and harrowing vulnerability, leaving Myanmar’s women caught between war, disaster and blocked aid.
A monastery compound in Katha after Myanmar military air strikes. (Supplied: People’s Defence Force/DVB)
The War on Sanctuaries
Since the military seized power in a February 2021 coup, the junta has increasingly targeted civilian infrastructure to break the will of the resistance. In the Sagaing region, a stronghold for the People’s Defence Force (PDF), monasteries have become emergency shelters for those displaced by both fighting and the earthquake.
The air strike in Katha was followed closely by another attack on a monastery and school in Kani township, east of Mandalay. Similar reports have emerged from Karen State along the Thai border. By targeting these sites, the military is not only attacking physical structures but the very fabric of community resilience.
“Monasteries are where people reach together to eat, to pray, to survive,” said Thinzar Shunlei Yi, a pro-democracy activist and founder of the NGO Sisters 2 Sisters. “The military is now attacking the heart of our faith: the Buddhist monkhood and our religious spaces.”
Thinzar Shunlei Yi notes that the military treats anyone sheltering in these spaces as an enemy by association. She describes the strategy as an attempt to instill fear and tighten control, coinciding with the appointment of junta leader Min Aung Hlaing as president following an election widely dismissed by Western governments as a sham.
Young monks help clear rubble in rebuilding efforts. (AFP: Sai Aung Main)
Weaponizing Basic Needs
While air strikes destroy homes, administrative blockades are strangling the survivors. In the Sagaing region, the military has restricted the flow of basic supplies, but some of the most restrictive policies are gender-specific.
Grassroots organizations, including Sisters 2 Sisters, report that the military has intentionally blocked the delivery of menstrual hygiene products. Volunteers attempting to distribute sanitary pads and medical supplies in Pale and Yin Mar Pin were recently turned back by military forces.
The justification provided by the military is stark: they suspect that menstrual pads will be used by the PDF to cover combat wounds. Thinzar Shunlei Yi describes this policy as “a direct attack on women’s bodies,” effectively using biological needs as a tool of war.
International agencies are facing similar hurdles. Ross Farmery, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delegation in Mandalay, highlighted the difficulty of supporting farming communities. Beyond the blockades, the return to ancestral lands is hampered by “weapons contamination,” as landmines and unexploded ordnance litter the landscape.
A mother and child displaced by conflict in Sagaing shelter at a monastery. (Supplied: WFP)
The Compounding Cost of Collapse
The humanitarian crisis is deepened by an economic freefall. According to UNESCO, approximately 8,300 religious monuments and temples were damaged or destroyed by the 7.7-magnitude earthquake. Among the losses was the Kuthodaw Pagoda, a site holding Buddhist scripture tablets inscribed in the Memory of the World Register.
While some urban centers like Mandalay show a surface-level return to normalcy, the underlying economy is fractured. Fuel is tightly controlled by the regime, with private cars restricted to alternate days based on license plates. Long queues for petrol have become a permanent fixture of the landscape, with reports of citizens collapsing in the heat while waiting for fuel.
| Crisis Factor | Impact/Statistic | Primary Driver |
|---|---|---|
| Food Security | 12.4 million people struggling to eat | Global instability & fuel rationing |
| Cultural Loss | 8,300 monuments damaged | 7.7-magnitude earthquake |
| Gender Aid | Menstrual products blocked | Military suspicion of PDF use |
| Infrastructure | Monasteries bombed | Anti-resistance military campaign |
Michael Dunford, the United Nations World Food Programme’s country director in Myanmar, warns that global instability—including conflicts in the Middle East—is driving up the cost of food and fertilizer. “People who survived the earthquake have barely begun to stand again, and now another blow is knocking them back down,” Dunford said.
People line-up for fuel for hours across Myanmar. (Reuters: Stringer)
Survival in the Shadows
For displaced women, survival is a daily calculation of debt and desperation. Ma Myint Myint, a street vendor, lost her home in the disaster and now operates a small samosa stall. She describes her existence as a “daily cycle of borrowing and scraping by,” with debts reaching 1.5 million kyats (approximately $1,030).
Others are unable to even start small businesses. Ma Zin Mar Wai, a mother of three, was forced to flee her grocery shop in Sagaing’s Wetlet township, which has since become an active conflict zone. Now displaced in Mandalay, she lives in fear that food assistance will cease.
“I just want to go home,” she said. “There are people hiding in the jungle whose situations are much worse than ours.”
The situation remains fluid as the military junta attempts to transition toward a curated form of civilian rule. International observers and humanitarian agencies continue to push for unfettered access to the Sagaing region, though the military has yet to lift the blockades on essential gender-specific aid.
Here’s a developing story. We invite readers to share their thoughts or provide further information in the comments section below.
