UN calls for relief efforts in Myanmar as earthquake death toll rises
The death toll from last week's devastating earthquake in Myanmar has reached 3,354, according to state media, as UN agencies and international aid organizations intensify their emergency relief efforts.
The 7.7 magnitude quake hit a wide area of the country, causing significant damage to six regions and states including the capital Naypyitaw, News.Az reports citing foreign media.
The earthquake left many areas without power, telephone or mobile connections and damaged roads and bridges, making the extent of the devastation hard to assess.
It worsened an already dire humanitarian crisis triggered by the country’s civil war that has internally displaced more than three million people and left nearly 20 million in need, according to the United Nations.
The military government’s leader, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, has said the earthquake was the second most powerful in the country’s recorded history after a magnitude 8 quake east of Mandalay in May 1912.
A report in the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper on Saturday said the death toll from the March 28 disaster has reached 3,354, with 4,850 injured and 220 missing.
It also said rescuers had saved 653 survivors trapped under the debris.
Myanmar’s military seized power in 2021 from the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking armed resistance that is believed by analysts to control more territory than the army.
Members of the UN Security Council “recognised the need to strengthen rescue, relief and recovery efforts and to scale up immediate and rapid humanitarian assistance in response to the requests to help the people of Myanmar, supported by the international community”, its president, Jerome Bonnafont, said in a statement on Friday.
In an apparent reference to the fighting in Myanmar and concerns that its military government would block or delay aid to areas under the control of resistance forces, the statement said the council’s members “affirmed the importance of a safe and conducive environment to ensure the timely and effective delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance to all those in need, without disruption or discrimination”.
Major General Zaw Min Tun, spokesman for the military government, said on Saturday that prime ministers and officials from regional countries including India and Thailand had pledged to provide assistance for relief efforts and rehabilitation in quake-hit areas.
“Everyone helped Myanmar that suffered from the earthquake. Everyone sympathised. Everyone understood. Everyone was willing to help. It can be seen everyone working together practically,” he said.
He added that 18 countries were providing assistance to affected areas, and more than 60 aircraft had flown in to transport rescuers and relief supplies.
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