Wikipedia

Hpakant

Hpakant(Burmese:ဖားကန့်,Burmese pronunciation:[pʰága̰ɰ̃];Shan Language: ၽႃၵၢၼ်ႉ, alsoHpakanandPhakant) is a town inHpakant Township,Kachin Statein the northernmost part ofMyanmar(Burma). It is located on theUyu River350 km north ofMandalay.It is famous for itsjademines whichproducethe world's best qualityjadeite.[2][3]

Hpakant
ဖားကန့်
Town
Hpakant is located in Myanmar
Hpakant
Hpakant
Location in Myanmar (Burma)
Coordinates:25°36′46″N96°18′41″E/ 25.61278°N 96.31139°E/25.61278; 96.31139
CountryMyanmar
DivisionKachin State
DistrictMohnyin District
TownshipHpakant Township
Population
(2014)[1]
• Town
312,278
•Urban
60,123
•Rural
252,155
• Religions
BuddhismChristianity
Time zoneUTC+6.30(MMT)

History

edit

The word Hpakant comes from theShan languagewords for rock fall. Hpakant was first established in 1832 as a village but shortly afterwards the village was destroyed in alandslide.Thereafter, Hpakant was established for the second time in 1836.

In 2011, fighting broke out between theKachin Independence Armyand theMyanmar Armyin the area around the Hpakant jade mines,displacingan estimated 90,000 people by September 2012 and killing hundreds of others.[4]

Political economy

edit
Map including the Hpakant area (DMA,1990)

Since after theKachin Independence Army(KIA) came into the area before negotiating aceasefireagreement with Burma's militarygovernmentin the early 1990s,heroinis no longer openly on sale on the streets of Hpakant. Bothaddictsanddrug dealerswere rounded up, taken to the nearbyUru River,shot and their bodies dumped in the river.[3]

Concerns have been expressed regarding the encroachment on and destruction of theenvironmentfromdeforestationandlandslidesresulting from mining activities and consequent flooding. The Uru River has also been affected by the dumping of soil. There have been instances of locals being forced to leave their homes when upland areas were bulldozed by the big mining companies.[5]

The KIA however lost control of the jade mines once the ceasefire had been arranged, and firms fromChina,Hong KongandSingaporestarted to operate in the area after winning concessions from the government.[6]More recently however the mining contracts went to the well knownBurmesetycoonTay Za'sHtoo Groupand also to Myanmar Dagaung Co Ltd, asubsidiaryof the Hong Pang Group headed byWei Hsueh-kang,a formerdrug traffickerand leader of theWainsurgentgroupUWSAturned entrepreneur after the cease-fire deal.[7]

Maran Brang Seng,former chairman of theKachin Independence Organisation(KIO) from 1976 until he died in 1994, was born in Hpakant in 1930.[8]

Mining hazards

edit

One thousand miners apparently drowned in 2000 when flood waters of the Uru River rushed into the underground mines, but the news was hushed up by the authorities, according to the locals.[dubious–discuss]An explosion at Hpakant Gyi mine on New Year's Eve 2008 killed 2 miners and injured 7. It is owned by another one of the ethnic ceasefire groups, thePa-ONational Army (PNA), headed byAung Kham Hti.[9]

A large jade mine in Hpakant.

More than 30 (and up to 70) people are believed to have been killed in a massive landslide near Hpakant in early July 2009; official figures are not available.[citation needed]The flood waters swept away homes, blocked roads and cut communications.[citation needed]The disaster is being blamed on jade mining, which creates large deposits of debris that block heavy rain from reaching natural rivers and drainage, including the Uru river.[citation needed]

About 100 jade mining companies operate in the Hpakant area. The Kachin Environmental Organization, based on the Sino-Burmese border, says that people living in the Hpakant area had appealed to the companies not to dump waste near the Uru River and to avoid environmental damage. The companies enjoy government backing, however, and local complaints are regularly ignored.[10]

Over 100 people were killed in a landslide in the 22 November2015 Hpakant jade mine disaster.Most of those killed were people living near the waste heap, who made their living scavenging through waste soil looking for jade remnants. At least 15 jade-seekers in a closed mine were killed and 45 injured by a landslide in July 2018.[11]Six people were killed in theApril 2019 Hpakant jade mine collapse.More than 162 people were killed in a landslide in the 2 July2020 Hpakant jade mine disaster.[12]In 2021,landslide at a jade minekilled 20 and swept up to 100 people into a lake.[13]On 13 August 2023 a landslide killed 32 people in the2023 Hpakant jade mine disaster.[14]

See also

edit

Notes

edit
  1. ^Census Report.The 2014 Myanmar Population and Housing Census. Vol. 2. Naypyitaw: Ministry of Immigration and Population. May 2015. p. 17.Archivedfrom the original on 7 May 2019.Retrieved29 November2015.
  2. ^"Hpakan Other Rock Mine (Myanmar)".aditnow.co.uk.Archivedfrom the original on 19 July 2011.Retrieved26 December2008.
  3. ^abRichard W. Hughes; Fred Ward."Heaven and Hell: The Quest for Jade in Upper Burma".Ruby-Sapphire.com. Archived fromthe originalon 5 February 2009.Retrieved26 December2008.
  4. ^Democratic Voice of Burma, Displaced by fighting, villagers take shelter in Hpakant, 22 October 2012,http://www.dvb.no/news/displaced-by-fighting-villagers-take-shelter-in-hpakant/23955Archived27 November 2012 at theWayback Machine
  5. ^Violet Cho."Gem Mining Destroying Environment, Activists Say".The Irrawaddy25 June 2008. Archived fromthe originalon 27 June 2008.Retrieved26 December2008.
  6. ^John S. Moncreif; Htun Myat."The War on Kachin Forests".The IrrawaddyOctober 2001, vol 9, no 8. Archived fromthe originalon 20 September 2010.Retrieved26 December2008.
  7. ^"Te Za mines jade with sophisticated equipment in Phakant".KachinNews.com, 5 July 2007.Archivedfrom the original on 12 February 2012.Retrieved6 January2009.
  8. ^"Kachin's Anti-Government Forces".Kachinstate.com.Archivedfrom the original on 12 June 2011.Retrieved6 January2009.
  9. ^"Two miners killed, seven injured on New Year eve explosion in Hpakant mine".KachinNews.com, 7 January 2009.Archivedfrom the original on 21 December 2017.Retrieved11 January2009.
  10. ^"Many Die as Landslide Sweeps through Jade-mining Area".11 August 2010. Archived fromthe originalon 11 August 2010.
  11. ^Viele Tote bei Erdrutsch in stillgelegter Mine in MyanmarArchived20 April 2013 at theWayback Machineorf.at, 16 July 2018, retrieved 16 July 2018 – German.
  12. ^"Myanmar jade mine landslide kills more than 100".BBC. 2 July 2020.Archivedfrom the original on 3 July 2020.Retrieved2 July2020.
  13. ^"Myanmar: dozens feared missing after landslide at jade mine".The Guardian.London. 22 December 2021.Retrieved15 October2022.
  14. ^Magramo, Su Chay, Sophie Jeong, Kathleen (16 August 2023)."At least 32 dead after landslide at Myanmar jade mine".CNN.Retrieved28 February2024.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hpakant&oldid=1258224270"