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Entire Neighborhoods Burned To The Ground In Myanmar Violence

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Myanmar's recent shift to transparency and democracy has been hailed as a success, perhaps even a model for the similarly troubled North Korea.

But some elements of Myanmar's change are troubling, notably a dramatic shift in ethnic tensions.

In an incident earlier this month, Muslims in the town of Meiktila clashed with the Burmese majority Buddhists, leading to the destruction of Muslim property by anti-Muslim mobs in the area. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), some 828 buildings in the area were totally destroyed, the majority of them residences.

State media puts the death toll at 40, but The New York Times, which described the event as "Kristallnacht in Myanmar", reports other figures closer to 200.

These maps from HRW show the damage in satellite images. You can view a larger pdf of HRW's findings here.

This image shows an overview of the damage (click to enlarge):

Human Rights Watch Myanmar

Meiktila (Main Damage Area 1)
442 likely residential buildings destroyed or severely damaged.
Move the slider to compare images from before and after the violence.

Before: Meiktila (Main Damage Area 1)
After: Meiktila (Main Damage Area 1)

 

Meiktila (Main Damage Area 2)
345 likely residential and commercial buildings destroyed and severely damaged
Move the slider to compare images from before and after the violence.

Before: Meiktila (Main Damage Area 2)
After: Meiktila (Main Damage Area 2)

The Muslims living in Meiktila have no links to the stateless Muslim minority in Myanmar's East, the Rohingya.

According to a separate report from HRW earlier this month, the Burmese government has been "restricting humanitarian aid and imposing discriminatory policies" on the Rohingya, who have been displaced by a campaign of ethnic violence which saw 125,000 forced to leave their home.

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