Webu Sayadaw's Kyaukse is Flooded
Myanmar is facing an urgent crisis. Devastating floods have displaced thousands, and the suffering doesn’t end there. While communities struggle to survive, the military regime has offered no aid—in fact, they continue to block help and exacerbate the suffering. They only thing they do do is continue to launch airstrikes and mortars against the people Our local contact, who has been visiting and assisting these sites, calls on meditators worldwide, especially those connected to the sacred land of Kyaukse and Webu Sayadaw, to consider offering a donation. Families are displaced, children are hungry, and monastic communities have been forgotten. They need more than just food—they need compassion and support from the global community. The regime has abandoned them, but we must not. Your compassion can make a critical difference in the lives of those who are struggling to survive.
It was totally a nightmare for thousands of people in Myanmar last week, as the number of flood victims in many different townships across the country has increased. Due to Typhoon Yagi, which directly hit Vietnam, it rained extremely hard in Myanmar over the last few days, and hence, the dams were full of water and almost breached! The water from most of these dams was released, and then it mainly caused the different townships to flood as a result. BBC Burmese News reported that over 230,000 flood victims from 34 townships were resettled to 187 camps.
Amongst these townships, Kyaukse, the sacred land of the Most Reverend Webu Sayadaw, along with its surrounding townships (such as Myit Nge, Myit Thar, Kume, etc.) were also badly affected. I saw a strong flow of water almost touching the bridge that locals called ‘Kyaukse Viewpoint,’ from which the sacred Webu Mountain and Kyauk Thin Baw Mountains can be seen. This was unbelievable!
A team member went to help the flood victims staying in the monasteries at the urban quarters of Kyaukse, and she saw the water level was as high as an adult man’s neck, even in the Kyaukse Township’s Public Hospital! Most of the affected areas are from the villages in the townships.
Due to the release of water from the dams. This includes the Myo Gyi Dam built across the Zawgyi River, and the Kindar Multipurpose Reservoir built across the Panlaung River, and the dam breach of the Samone Dam built across the Samone River. So now flooding took place in many different townships at the foot of Shan Plateau, according to the news report of the Irrawaddy Burmese Edition. Kyaukse township, lying on the Zawgyi River, was mainly flooded due to the uncontrolled release of water from Myo Gyi Dam.
I have seen so many grieving photos of the flood victims and calls for rescue on social media, coming from the villages in the west of the town. One said: “Calling for help, please! Flood and Hunger: As the water level is still high in the western villages called Sin Kun, Panam, and Pan Khwar, of Kyaukse, no aid or food has arrived. Our kids might get some stomach ache and even get unconscious if they don’t eat. On top of the floods, we are also suffering from hunger and thirst.”
We saw some comments under the post that Cetana Pan Khin Sayadaw and his team were going there, which I was relieved to hear. But I hope we can do more. Anyway, the post concluded, “We are pleading for one rice box due to the rising water levels.” As far as I was able to learn, only a couple of local donors and charities including the monks in the country were providing any kind of relief or aid to the flood victims, but it is still insufficient.
Not only the lay people, but also the monks and novices in the village monasteries were suffering from the floods, although these are too often forgotten. While the urban monasteries are helping the victims, the monastics in the villages are suffering from the terrible floods. Some monks I knew were trying to save the villagers until the water level rose up so high that it reached the upstairs of two-story buildings in the monasteries! As far as we have enquired and found out, some of these vulnerable monastics are also staying at the monasteries in urban areas, and some continue to stay in their monastery. We need to find a way to help them.
Anyway, as I said, Cetana Pan Khin Sayadaw has been actively helping the flood victims in Kyaukse and the surrounding areas, and the residing abbot of a village monastery in Myit Thar Township, the neighboring township in the south of Kyaukse, called for rescue and help for 12 monastics including young novices, who were in his monastery. This monastery is located in Pyaw Bwe Lay Village, in the south of Dar Ye Kaung Village and the name of the abbot is Ven. Vimala. These 12 monastics have been staying on the pagoda platform (hill) for two days so far. It is truly grieving to know the hardship of the monastics as the village monasteries are usually located a little far from the village and the rescue teams forgot to go and save them.
I heard that Sin Gway Sayadaw (ဆင်ဂွေဆရာတော်) was sharing their preparations to leave the monastery and move the people to a safe place. The novices and some attendants were preparing boats for the villagers who had taken refuge in the monastery: the whole monastery compound was also fully flooded, then.
As for our team, we went to the south to witness the situation in with our own eyes. We inquired about the condition of the road and waited for some time in Myitnge (before the Myitnge Bridge near the Most Reverend Mogok Sayadaw’s birthplace village called U Yin Taw). After we stayed overnight, my team suggested that we go back and inform the donors first as my car was too low and the water was touching my car’s floor: the water was crossing over the roads, in most areas of the Yangon-Mandalay Highway (old) and Yangon-Mandalay Expressway from Mileposts 354 to 360. Due to the military checkpoints, we could not take our phones and laptop computers as we wanted to do a proper needs assessment. We went in a truck together with some nuns whose village was fully flooded and who were going to help their villagers staying in an urban monastery in Kyaukse.
Please, it is the right time to help both the monastics and laymen from the suffering communities in the sacred land of Webu, and for those international meditators who have been to Kyaukse, you might know how significant it is. People believed Kyaukse to be where the Most Reverend Webu Sayadaw attained the arhantship, or full enlightenment. Also, Sayagyi U Ba Khin met the great monk for the first time in Kyaukse! And then, Kyauk Thinbaw Sayadaw was also a well-known monk believed to be an arhat, or fully liberated being.
We are now assessing the needs based on priority and urgency. We have heard and received news and calls for help from our local contacts in different areas of Kyaukse, Myitnge and Myit Thar. Later, we also heard that the rural areas at the feet of the mountains in the east of Mandalay and in the Patheingyi Township were also flooded due to the water release from Sedawgyi Dam and the high water level of Dutthawati River.
Please, kindly pass on the information to the international meditators and let them hear our calls for help from these vulnerable communities.
