To stay or go? No good choice amid latest purge

He was already preparing to leave when the gunfire erupted without warning. The soldiers were shooting at civilians and burning down homes, again.

In a panic, Biak Tling stuffed two days’ worth of clothes into a backpack and fled. He covered 220 miles over two days on his motorbike, eventually making his way across a narrow suspension bridge from his strife-ridden home of Myanmar into the relative refuge of India.

A week earlier, he had sent his wife and three young children on a similar journey. “Take care,” he told them. “And wait for me.”

Across Myanmar, hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes, trying to escape the violence and bloodshed since the military seized power in a coup Feb. 1. Many are living in tents in the jungles of Myanmar. Some, like Biak Tling, have left their homeland entirely, pouring into neighboring countries.

For those who stay, it is a fight to survive. The junta has created a humanitarian crisis in Myanmar that is worsening by the day, according to rights groups. Soldiers are blocking aid convoys, keeping critical food and supplies from the people who need them. Children are dying because they have not been able to get medical help.

For those who leave, it is a life in limbo. Many are struggling to adapt to a place they do not quite know, a government that does not quite welcome them, and a future with no certainty. India does not recognize refugees, so they are unable to get assistance, legal status or jobs.

The ranks of the displaced are swelling as the country sits on the precipice of civil war between armed protesters and the military. More than 1,300 people have been killed by the junta, according to a rights group.

In the northwest, the military has deployed thousands of troops in a concerted push to crush the resistance.

Saumya Khandelwal / New York Times Biak Tling stands on the bridge that he used to cross over into India. He and hundreds of thousands of others fleeing violence face an uncertain future.