Myanmar junta lets post-quake truce expire

YANGON - Myanmar’s military junta let a truce declared to spur aid efforts after the March earthquake expire on May 1, a ceasefire that monitors say it consistently violated with air strikes.

The

7.7-magnitude quake on March 28

in Myanmar’s central belt killed nearly 3,800 and has left tens of thousands homeless as the summer monsoon season approaches.

The junta – which snatched power in a 2021 coup, sparking a many-sided civil war –

declared a ceasefire on April 2

and extended it last week as aid groups warned of a long road to recovery.

It expired at midnight on April 30, with the junta information team making no announcement of an extension. A junta spokesman could not be reached for comment on that day.

Monitors from the Britain-based Centre for Information Resilience logged 65 air attacks by the military during the proclaimed ceasefire period – many clustered in regions worst-hit by the quake.

When the military pledged to pause offensives, it warned the myriad of anti-coup and ethnic armed groups it is battling that it would strike back if they advance.

During the ceasefire period, opposition armed groups besieged towns on a lucrative eastern trade route to Thailand, according to locals, who said fighting had forced many civilians from their homes.

The quake was the strongest centred on Myanmar’s land mass since 1912, according to the United States Geological Survey, with the ground shearing up to 6m in places, according to Nasa analysis.

The Red Cross and Red Crescent societies this week predicted it would take the country two years to fully recover from the disaster. AFP