A Question in Quake-Wracked Myanmar: Does This Augur the End of the Junta?

Picture: Min Aung Hlaing, the leader of the military junta that seized power in a coup four years ago, at a hospital in the capital, Naypyidaw, on Friday | Sai Aung Main/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

In an article by The New York Times, Hannah Beech asserts that in a censored nation that runs on rumor and omens, people in Myanmar wonder whether the latest disaster might be a portent of regime change.

Omens and rumors have long been prized in an authoritarian country with little free flow of information. When the ruling generals grabbed power four years ago, they sealed off the country and reverted to a reverence of superstition and propaganda. And earthquakes do figure into astrological almanacs that are well thumbed in Myanmar. A popular version states that an earthquake in March signals the destruction of cities, while one in July is an augury of kings and rulers deposed.

The junta’s stronghold remains in the cities, like in Mandalay, the second-largest in the country and one of the hardest hit by the earthquake. Daw Marlar Myint, 89, said this was the worst natural disaster she had ever experienced. A retired school principal, she is not waiting until July to cast her prediction.

“We have a saying that a massive earthquake like this is nature’s way of punishing a cruel and corrupt ruler,” she said. “After killing so many people, Min Aung Hlaing is now facing the judgment of nature.”

“Even the bones of those he murdered are trembling,” she added.