International efforts to obtain help from Myanmar intensified on Sunday, a few days after a devastating earthquake which deepened the crisis of the country struck by conflicts.
Living and medical teams from China, Russia, India, Thailand and Singapore have arrived in the isolated country in Southeast Asia. Other regional partners, including Vietnam and Malaysia, have committed to send support.
The Military Government of Myanmar said that 1,644 people had been killed and 3,408 injured with 139 other missing, according to state media, although these figures should increase.
The earthquake also left at least 17 deaths in Bangkok, the Thai capital more than 600 miles away, while 78 others were missing after the collapse of a high -rise building.
The aftershocks continued throughout the weekend, with 5.1 earthquakes of magnitude striking Mandalay and Naycyidaw, the capital, on Sunday.
Responding to the earthquake should be a huge challenge for Myanmar, embraced by the conflict for decades and its repressive military leaders. A United Nations development program report in January said that the country of 55 million people suffered a “polycririsy”, with its economy in disarray and lower GDP than that of the COVVI-19 pandemic.
The earthquake “could not arrive at a worst time for Myanmar,” said Amnesty International’s myanmar researcher Joe Freeman. He noted that the disaster followed the Trump administration’s decision to freeze foreign aid and reduce USAID, although the American president said Washington would provide assistance to the suite of the earthquake.
Amnesty estimated that more than a third of the population would need humanitarian assistance this year.
Myanmar soldiers overthrew the elected government of the Nobel Peace Prize winner winner of Aung San Suu Kyi during a coup in 2021. Since then, the conflict has deepened through the country while pro-democracy groups have lined up on the armed ethnic insurrections against the junta.
Several strategic border regions are in the hands of the rebels, although control of the regime is safer in the central regions, notably Yangon, the shopping center and Mandalay, the second city close to the epicenter of the earthquake on Friday.
India said that his soldiers had sent a team to create a field hospital near Mandalay and planes with a few emergency supplies. His navy also sends four ships with humanitarian aid.
“Rescue equipment in the event of a disaster, humanitarian assistance, research and rescue teams are sent to the affected areas,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote after talking to General Min Aung Hlaing, head of the Military Junta of Myanmar.
Beijing sent two emergency rescue teams while the Chinese Red Cross sent emergency supplies, according to state media. The province of southwest Yunnan, which borders Myanmar, sent supplies.
In the past, military governments have refused or restricted access to aid, in particular the areas held by rebel groups.
In 2008, a military dictatorship refused aid, including the United States, after Cyclone Nargis killed more than 100,000 people. During more recent disasters, such as Cyclone Mocha in 2013 and sudden floods last year, local rescue workers accused the government of retaining aid and donations to areas held by rebels.
“The Junta’s response to Cyclone Mocha and Typhoon Yagi demonstrates its desire to arm the aid in the midst of natural disasters,” Tom Andrews, a special United Nations Human Rights in Myanmar, said. “A strong international response is imperative to obtain aid to the many who were in the reticle of this terrible earthquake.”
The Center for Ah Nyar Studies, a human rights group, focused on the Myanmar center, said on Sunday that international aid “still had not reached the hands of affected people”, the residents of Mandalay “carrying out rescue work”.
The group added that some international rescue teams have been authorized to operate in Mandalay and Naycyidaw from Monday. But he added that Sagaing, a rural northern region bordering Mandalay which saw the weight of the fighting, remained “blocked”.
International agencies said the earthquake had destroyed hospitals and damaged the main road between Mandalay and Yangon, the country’s shopping center. The air traffic control tower at Naycyidaw airport collapsed.
“We may not have a clear image of the extent of damage and losses for a while,” said Amnesty. He added that the center of Myanmar had also been “ravaged by military air strikes and clashes between resistance groups and the army”.
Only a few hours after the earthquake, the army made air strikes in the regions of the northern Shan state, according to local media.
The National Government of Unity, a ghost government made up of former members of the Aung San Suu Kyi party, said on Saturday that it would implement a “two -week break” in offensive military activity in areas affected by earthquakes.
He added that he would cooperate with United Nations agencies and international aid groups “to provide immediate emergency assistance and medical support”, including in the junta -controlled areas “if security guarantees are provided”.
Additional reports by Chris Kay in Mumbai
