Loikaw

Loikaw လွိုင်ကော်မြို့ Lwègaw[1]
Capital Town
Loikaw Location in Myanmar
Coordinates: 19°40′27″N 97°12′34″E
Country	Myanmar
Region	Kayah State
District	Loikaw
Township	Loikaw
Area
• Total	10.3 sq mi (27 km^2)
Elevation	2,900 ft (884 m)
Population  (2019)[2]	59,450
Time zone	UTC+6.30 (MMT)

Loikaw (Burmese: လွိုင်ကော်မြို့; MLCTS: lwuing kau mrui., pronounced [lwàɪ(ŋ)kɔ̀ mjo̰]) is the capital of Kayah State, also known as Karenni State, in Myanmar. It is located in the Karen Hills area, near the State's northern tip, just above an embayment on the Pilu River.^[3] The inhabitants are mostly Kayah (Karenni). Myanmar's largest hydropower plant (built by the Japanese as war reparation) is located about 20 km (12 mi) east of Loikaw at Lawpita Falls.

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

History

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 the Karenni States, part of the Princely States of British Burma, in 1922 during British rule in Burma. The town was located in the only flat part of the Karenni area. In 1892 it numbered four huts. As an Agent of the British government he was exercising control over the local Karenni Rulers, being supervised by the Superintendent at Taunggyi.^[5] The headquarters of the American Baptist Mission to 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, the Karenni National People's Liberation Front, Karenni Army, and Karenni Nationalities Defence Force launched a military offensive known as Operation 1107 against the ruling State Administration Council junta. An additional offensive, known as Operation 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

2014

Historical Population

Year	Pop.	±%
1973		—
1983	33,665	—
2014	51,349	+52.5%
2019	59,450	+15.8%
Source: Ministry of Labor, Immigration, and Population and General Administration Department data

The 2014 Myanmar Census reported that Loikaw had a population of 51,349, constituting 40.0% of Loikaw Township's total population.^[4]

Climate

Loikaw has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw) bordering on a humid 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)
Average precipitation mm (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

View of Taung Kwe Pagoda.

Air

Loikaw is linked to Yangon and Mandalay by air.

Loikaw Airport

Rail

Loikaw is linked by the newly constructed Aungpan-Pinlaung-Loikaw rail line.

Loikaw Station

Buses

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

Education

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

Health care

Loikaw General Hospital serves not only locals in the state but also to those in the southern part of neighbouring Shan 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 from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).^[12]

Naung Yah Lake

Lawpita Fall

See also

• Loikaw Airport
• Kayah State Cultural Museum
• Kandarawadi Palace
• Lawpita Hydropower Plants
• Karen State

References

1. "Lwègaw (Variant)" Loikaw at GEOnet Names Server, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
2. Myanmar Information Management Unit (September 2019). Loikaw Myone Daethasaingyarachatlatmya လွိုင်ကော်မြို့နယ် ဒေသဆိုင်ရာအချက်လက်များ [Loikaw Township Regional Information] (PDF) (Report). MIMU. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
3. Bitsch, Jørgen (1966) Why Buddha Smiles Taplinger Publishing, New York, pages 55–56, OCLC 421824
4. "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. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
7. "Burmese flee bombardment as junta 'makes example' of city of Loikaw". the Guardian. 2022-01-14. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
8. "ကရင်နီဒေသ ၁၁၀၇ စစ်ဆင်ရေး တိုက်ပွဲ ဆင်နွှဲ". BBC News မြန်မာ (in Burmese). 9 November 2023. Archived from the original on 10 November 2023. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
9. "ကရင်နီဒေသ ၁၁၀၇ စစ်ဆင်ရေး စတင်". ဗွီအိုအေ (in Burmese). 8 November 2023. Archived from the original on November 10, 2023. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
10. "Resistance forces claim control of '85 percent' of Karenni State capital". 19 December 2023.
11. "World Meteorological Organization Climate Normals for 1991–2020". World Meteorological Organization. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
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. Retrieved 2017-10-08.

External links

• Media related to Loikaw at Wikimedia Commons

19°40′27″N 97°12′33″E