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Loikaw

Coordinates:19°40′27″N97°12′33″E/ 19.67417°N 97.20917°E/19.67417; 97.20917
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Loikaw
လွိုင်ကော်မြို့
Lwègaw[1]
Town
Loikaw is located in Myanmar
Loikaw
Loikaw
Location in Myanmar
Coordinates:19°40′27″N97°12′34″E/ 19.67417°N 97.20944°E/19.67417; 97.20944
CountryMyanmar
RegionKayah State
DistrictLoikaw
TownshipLoikaw
Area
• Total10.3 sq mi (27 km2)
Elevation
2,900 ft (884 m)
Population
(2019)[2]
51,349
Time zoneUTC+6.30(MMT)

Loikaw(Burmese:လွိုင်ကော်မြို့;MLCTS:lwuing kau mrui.,pronounced[lwàɪ(ŋ)kɔ̀mjo̰]) is the capital ofKayah State,also known as Karenni State, inMyanmar.It is located in theKaren Hillsarea, near the State's northern tip, just above an embayment on thePilu River.[3]The inhabitants are mostlyKayah(Karenni). Myanmar's largesthydropowerplant (built by the Japanese aswar reparation) is located about 20 km (12 mi) east of Loikaw atLawpita Falls.

The town of Loikaw comprises 13urban wards,namely Naungya, Daw-ukhu, Mainglon, Mingala, Dhammayon, Zaypaing, Shwetaung, Landama, Dawtanma, Dawnoeku, Shansu, and Minsu wards.[4]

History[edit]

Landscape of Loikaw in 1922. The bridges appear flimsy, but were substantial enough that elephants could walk over them.

Loikaw was the Headquarters of the Political Officer in Charge of theKarenni States,part of thePrincely Statesof British Burma, in 1922 duringBritish rule in Burma.The town was located in the only flat part of the Karenni area. In 1892 it numbered four huts. As anAgent of the British governmenthe was exercising control over the local Karenni Rulers, being supervised by the Superintendent atTaunggyi.[5]The headquarters of theAmerican Baptist Missionto Hill Karens was also located in Loikaw.

As with the rest of Kayah State, outsider access to Loikaw has been restricted post-independence, with special permits required to secure entry.[6]Since the 2021 coup, Loikaw has been the scene of intense fighting between the Burmese military and ethnic armed groups opposed to military control, forcing many of the city's residents to flee.[7]On 7 November 2023, theKarenni National People's Liberation Front,Karenni Army,andKarenni Nationalities Defence Forcelaunched a military offensive known asOperation 1107against the rulingState Administration Counciljunta. An additional offensive, known asOperation 1111,started on 11 November 2023 with the aim of capturing Loikaw.[8][9]By 18 December, anti-junta forces were reported to have control of 85% of the city.[10]

Demographics[edit]

2014[edit]

Historical Population
YearPop.±%
1973—
198333,665—
201451,349+52.5%
201959,450+15.8%
Source: Ministry of Labor, Immigration, and Population and General Administration Department data

The2014 Myanmar Censusreported that Loikaw had a population of 51,349, constituting 40.0% ofLoikaw Township's total population.[4]

Climate[edit]

Loikaw has atropical savanna climate(KöppenAw) bordering on ahumid subtropical climate(Cwa).

Climate data for Loikaw, elevation 895 m (2,936 ft), (1991–2020)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 27.7
(81.9) 		30.2
(86.4) 		32.8
(91.0) 		33.8
(92.8) 		31.3
(88.3) 		29.1
(84.4) 		28.2
(82.8) 		28.0
(82.4) 		28.8
(83.8) 		28.8
(83.8) 		28.0
(82.4) 		26.7
(80.1) 		29.4
(84.9)
Daily mean °C (°F) 18.6
(65.5) 		20.7
(69.3) 		24.0
(75.2) 		26.5
(79.7) 		26.1
(79.0) 		25.0
(77.0) 		24.5
(76.1) 		24.3
(75.7) 		24.6
(76.3) 		23.9
(75.0) 		21.5
(70.7) 		18.8
(65.8) 		23.2
(73.8)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) 9.5
(49.1) 		11.2
(52.2) 		15.2
(59.4) 		19.3
(66.7) 		20.8
(69.4) 		21.0
(69.8) 		20.8
(69.4) 		20.7
(69.3) 		20.5
(68.9) 		19.1
(66.4) 		15.1
(59.2) 		10.9
(51.6) 		17.0
(62.6)
Averageprecipitationmm (inches) 9.3
(0.37) 		2.7
(0.11) 		14.1
(0.56) 		41.1
(1.62) 		139.9
(5.51) 		142.1
(5.59) 		155.6
(6.13) 		226.5
(8.92) 		191.6
(7.54) 		131.4
(5.17) 		38.4
(1.51) 		10.2
(0.40) 		1,102.7
(43.41)
Average precipitation days(≥ 1.0 mm) 1.0 0.3 1.3 5.0 14.2 18.3 19.4 21.5 17.1 11.1 4.2 1.4 114.7
Source:World Meteorological Organization[11]

Transport[edit]

View of Taung Kwe Pagoda.

Air[edit]

Loikawis linked toYangonandMandalayby air.

Loikaw Airport

Rail[edit]

Loikaw is linked by the newly constructedAungpan-Pinlaung-Loikaw rail line.

Loikaw Station

Buses[edit]

There are express buses from Loikaw to Yangon, Mandalay and other towns.

Education[edit]

The town is home toLoikaw University,Technological University, Loikaw,Computer University, Loikaw.Loikaw Education College

Health care[edit]

Loikaw General Hospital serves not only locals in the state but also to those in the southern part of neighbouringShan State.The existing buildings of the hospital were built in 1964. Due to increase demands, new two two-storey buildings were constructed with the 1.945 billion yen funding fromJapan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).[12]

Naung Yah Lake
Lawpita Fall

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^"Lwègaw (Variant)"LoikawatGEOnet Names Server,United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
  2. ^Myanmar Information Management Unit (September 2019).Loikaw Myone Daethasaingyarachatlatmyaလွိုင်ကော်မြို့နယ် ဒေသဆိုင်ရာအချက်လက်များ[Loikaw Township Regional Information](PDF)(Report). MIMU.Retrieved23 February2024.
  3. ^Bitsch, Jørgen (1966)Why Buddha SmilesTaplinger Publishing, New York, pages 55–56,OCLC421824
  4. ^ab"Loikaw Township Report"(PDF).2014 Myanmar Population and Housing Census.October 2017.
  5. ^Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 15, p. 36.
  6. ^"A guide to Loikaw, Kayah State (Myanmar) – Against the Compass".2016-10-08.Retrieved2022-01-14.
  7. ^"Burmese flee bombardment as junta 'makes example' of city of Loikaw".the Guardian.2022-01-14.Retrieved2022-01-14.
  8. ^"ကရင်နီဒေသ ၁၁၀၇ စစ်ဆင်ရေး တိုက်ပွဲ ဆင်နွှဲ".BBC Newsမြန်မာ(in Burmese). 9 November 2023.Archivedfrom the original on 10 November 2023.Retrieved10 November2023.
  9. ^"ကရင်နီဒေသ ၁၁၀၇ စစ်ဆင်ရေး စတင်".ဗွီအိုအေ(in Burmese). 8 November 2023. Archived fromthe originalon November 10, 2023.Retrieved10 November2023.
  10. ^https://myanmar-now.org/en/news/resistance-forces-claim-control-of-85-percent-of-karenni-state-capital/
  11. ^"World Meteorological Organization Climate Normals for 1991–2020".World Meteorological Organization.Retrieved16 October2023.
  12. ^"Loikaw to get new hospital buildings funded by JICA – Global New Light Of Myanmar".Global New Light Of Myanmar.2015-02-11. Archived from the original on February 12, 2015.Retrieved2017-10-08.{{cite news}}:CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)

External links[edit]

Wikivoyage has a travel guide forLoikaw.
  • Media related toLoikawat Wikimedia Commons

19°40′27″N97°12′33″E/ 19.67417°N 97.20917°E/19.67417; 97.20917

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