Shelter

The villagers fled eastward across the Shwegyin River into the hills where it would be easier for them to evade the Burma Army patrols. The women and children fled deeper into the hills and set up small temporary shelters such as this one on the outskirts of another village, while the men set up small rudimentary shelters nearer the soldiers so that they could monitor their movements and warn their families if necessary. As the attack coincided with the rice harvest, many villagers fled into the forest with little or no food and while displaced the villagers shared what little food they had between them.