[🇧🇩] Earthquake in Myanmar----Lessons for Bangladesh

[Saif]

Myanmar military limiting aid in earthquake areas, UN says

Myanmar’s military is limiting critically needed humanitarian aid for earthquake victims in areas where it sees opposition to its rule, the United Nations human rights office said on Friday. The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights also said it was investigating 53 reported

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Myanmar military limiting aid in earthquake areas, UN says
REUTERS
Published :
Apr 04, 2025 19:30
Updated :
Apr 04, 2025 19:32

A damaged building is pictured following a strong earthquake in Amarapura township, Myanmar, April 4, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Stringer/Files

Myanmar’s military is limiting critically needed humanitarian aid for earthquake victims in areas where it sees opposition to its rule, the United Nations human rights office said on Friday.

The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights also said it was investigating 53 reported attacks by the junta against its opponents since the earthquake struck on March 28, including air strikes, of which 16 came after a ceasefire on April 2.

On Friday, the office was made aware of a further eight attacks which it was looking into, it said.

A spokesperson for Myanmar’s ruling junta did not respond to calls from Reuters seeking comment.

The humanitarian situation in earthquake areas, especially those out of the military’s control, was catastrophic, U.N. rights office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.

The 7.7 magnitude quake, one of the strongest to hit Myanmar in a century, jolted areas home to 28 million people, toppling buildings, flattening communities and leaving many without food, water and shelter. Myanmar’s junta says the death toll has risen to more than 3,100.

“Limitations of aid is part of a strategy to prevent aid getting to the populations it sees as not supporting its seizure of power back in 2021,” said James Rodehaver, head of OHCHR’s Myanmar team, speaking via video link from Bangkok.

The need for aid was particularly urgent in Myanmar’s Sagaing region, and time was working against humanitarian agencies to help those in need, he added.

“Air strikes are alarming, shocking and need to stop straight away - the focus needs to be on humanitarian recovery,” Shamdasani said.

The government on state-run MRTV late on Wednesday announced a 20-day unilateral ceasefire effective immediately to support post-quake rehabilitation, but warned it would “respond accordingly” if rebels launched attacks.

Millions of people have been affected by Myanmar’s widening civil war, triggered by the coup that ousted the government of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

It has decimated the mainly agrarian economy, driven more than 3.5 million people from their homes and crippled essential services such as healthcare.​

 

[Saif]

UN calls for Myanmar support as quake death toll reaches 3,354

The United Nations called for the world to rally behind quake-hit Myanmar on Saturday as the death toll rose to 3,354, while a former USAID official said a U.S. aid team had received notice they were losing their jobs after arriving in the disaster zone. In addition to those killed by the March 28

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

UN calls for Myanmar support as quake death toll reaches 3,354
REUTERS
Published :
Apr 05, 2025 21:41
Updated :
Apr 05, 2025 21:41

Rubble lies near a damaged building following a strong earthquake in Pyawbwe township, Mandalay, Myanmar, April 4, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Stringer

The United Nations called for the world to rally behind quake-hit Myanmar on Saturday as the death toll rose to 3,354, while a former USAID official said a U.S. aid team had received notice they were losing their jobs after arriving in the disaster zone.

In addition to those killed by the March 28 earthquake, 4,850 people were injured and another 220 are missing, state media said.

During a visit to Myanmar’s second-biggest city, Mandalay, which was near the epicentre of the 7.7 magnitude quake, United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher appealed for international support.

“The destruction is staggering. Lives lost. Homes destroyed. Livelihoods shattered. But the resilience is incredible,” he said in a post on X. “The world must rally behind the people of Myanmar.”

Myanmar’s neighbours, such as China, India and Southeast Asian nations, are among those that dispatched relief supplies and rescuers to aid the recovery effort in quake-hit areas that are home to about 28 million people over the past week.

The United States, which was until recently the world’s top humanitarian donor, had pledged at least $9 million to Myanmar to support earthquake-affected communities, but current and former U.S. officials say the dismantling of its foreign aid program has affected its response.

Three U.S. Agency for International Development workers who had travelled to Myanmar after the quake were told they were being let go, Marcia Wong, a former senior USAID official, told Reuters.

“This team is working incredibly hard, focussed on getting humanitarian aid to those in need. To get news of your imminent termination - how can that not be demoralising?” said Wong.

The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Friday the junta was restricting aid supplies to quake-hit areas where communities did not back its rule. The U.N. office also said it was investigating 53 reported attacks by the junta against opponents, including air strikes, of which 16 were after the ceasefire was declared on Wednesday.

A junta spokesman did not respond to calls seeking comment.

Free Burma Rangers, a relief group, told Reuters on Saturday that the military had dropped bombs in Karenni and southern Shan states on Thursday and Friday despite the ceasefire announcement, killing at least five people.

The victims included civilians, according to the group’s founder, David Eubank, who said there had been at least seven such military attacks since the ceasefire.

ELECTION PLANS

The leader of the military government, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, reaffirmed to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi the junta’s plans to hold “free and fair” elections in December when the two met in Bangkok, Myanmar state media said on Saturday.

Min Aung Hlaing made the rare trip to attend a summit of South and Southeast Asian nations on Friday, where he also met separately with the leaders of Thailand, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka.

Modi called for the post-quake ceasefire in Myanmar’s civil war to be made permanent, and said the elections needed to be “inclusive and credible”, an Indian foreign affairs spokesperson said on Friday.

Critics have derided the planned election as a sham to keep the generals in power through proxies.

Since overthrowing the government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, the military has struggled to run Myanmar, leaving the economy and basic services, including healthcare, in tatters, a situation exacerbated by the earthquake.

The civil war that followed the coup has displaced more than 3 million people, with widespread food insecurity and more than a third of the population in need of humanitarian assistance, the U.N. says.​

 

[Saif]

Death toll rises to 3,689 in Myanmar earthquake

The powerful earthquake that struck Myanmar has claimed 3,689 lives and left 5,020 people injured, with 139 others remaining unaccounted for as of Friday, according to the country's State Administration Council Information Team.

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Death toll rises to 3,689 in Myanmar earthquake
Xinhua
Published :
Apr 12, 2025 10:49
Updated :
Apr 12, 2025 10:49

The powerful earthquake that struck Myanmar has claimed 3,689 lives and left 5,020 people injured, with 139 others remaining unaccounted for as of Friday, according to the country's State Administration Council Information Team.​

 

[Saif]

Bangladesh completes rescue operations in Myanmar

Bangladesh has completed humanitarian activities and rescue operations in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28.

www.newagebd.net

Bangladesh completes rescue operations in Myanmar
Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha . Dhaka 14 April, 2025, 16:49

Bangladeshi team, comprising of Army rescue personnel, doctors, nurses and fire-service personnel, pose for a photo after completing rescue operations in Myanmar on Sunday. | BSS photo

Bangladesh has completed humanitarian activities and rescue operations in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28.

After completing the operations, the Bangladeshi team, comprising of Army rescue personnel, doctors, nurses and fire-service personnel, has left Myanmar on Sunday by Bangladesh Navy Ship BNS Somudra Avijan and they are scheduled to arrive in Chattogram on Tuesday, said a foreign ministry’s press release in Dhaka.

In addition to the rescue operations, Bangladesh delivered 151.5 tonnes of humanitarian assistance to Myanmar, including food, medicine, tents, drinking water, blankets, clothing, hygiene products, and other essential items after receiving request from the government of Myanmar.

‘As a responsible neighbour and a champion in disaster management, Bangladesh stood beside the earthquake-affected people of Myanmar and responded immediately with humanitarian assistance,’ said the foreign ministry.

Chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus sent a letter of condolence to his counterpart of Myanmar government and offered humanitarian assistance.

The chief adviser’s office, foreign affairs ministry, Armed Forces Division, disaster management and relief ministry and Bangladesh embassy in Myanmar coordinated relevant humanitarian activities.

From March 30 to April 12, in three phases, five Bangladeshi aircrafts and one navy ship carried 151.5 tonnes of assistance, including food, medicine, tents, food packets, dry ration, drinking water, blankets, clothing, hygiene products and other essentials to Myanmar.

In the first phase, two Bangladeshi aircraft (C-130J and CASA C-295) carried 16.5 tonnes of assistance to Yangon on March 30.

Another three Bangladeshi aircrafts (two C-130J and one CASA C295) carried 15 tonnes of relief and a 55-member rescue and medical team to Nay Pyi Taw in the second phase on 1st April.

The third phase of humanitarian assistance was conducted by the Bangladesh Navy Ship BNS Somudra Avijan, which sailed from Chittagong on April 8 carrying more than 120 metric tons of relief items and landed in Yangon on April 11.

Bangladesh ambassador in Myanmar handed over the assistance to Myanmar’s authorities in three phases.

Bangladesh embassy in Myanmar also engaged the expatriate Bangladeshi community members in Myanmar in humanitarian activities in Mandalay city, said the release.​

 

[Saif]

Downpours drench homeless survivors of Myanmar quake

Heavy rains have lashed the Myanmar region stricken by last month’s earthquake, aid officials said Wednesday, drenching homeless survivors and bogging down relief efforts...

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Downpours drench homeless survivors of Myanmar quake
Agence France-Presse . Yangon 16 April, 2025, 21:37

Heavy rains have lashed the Myanmar region stricken by last month’s earthquake, aid officials said Wednesday, drenching homeless survivors and bogging down relief efforts.

Some 60,000 people are living in tent encampments in central Myanmar, according to the UN, three weeks after a 7.7-magnitude tremor damaged and destroyed thousands of homes and killed at least 3,700 people.

Downpours around 7:00pm on Tuesday flooded streets and camps in and around Mandalay, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said.

The city — Myanmar’s second most populous — suffered heavy damage in the March 28 disaster with apartment blocks collapsed, religious institutes demolished and hotels razed by the shallow quake.

AFP journalists in Mandalay over the weekend saw hundreds of people living under plastic gazebos and draped tarpaulins, perched on cardboard in makeshift homes that offered little protection from the elements.

‘When these downpours happen the conditions just get really worse,’ IFRC Myanmar delegation chief Nadia Khoury said.

Myanmar is in the midst of its ‘Thingyan’ festival which typically celebrates the new year with water-splashing rituals symbolising cleansing and renewal.

But celebrations have been muted as the nation mourns, while relief workers and homeless families are fretting over the summer’s oncoming monsoon season.

‘The conditions are challenging. We are worried about the rains arriving,’ said Khoury, who has visited the worst affected sites — where the IFRC is working with the Myanmar Red Cross — for the past two days.

‘This effort needs to be as fast as possible, to get people into some form of permanent shelter, with good sanitary facilities and drinking water.’

Myanmar’s central belt is blanketed by at least two and a half million tonnes of debris, according to the UN, which says two million people have been pushed into ‘critical need of assistance and protection’.

Many homes remain standing but have suffered cracks, with families too fearful to return as the region is still rattled by regular aftershocks.

Daytime temperatures have soared as high as 44 degrees Celsius, piling more misery on survivors in the country which is also beset by a brutal civil war following a 2021 coup.​