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

BANGKOK – The United Nations called for the world to

rally behind quake-hit Myanmar

on April 5 as the death toll rose to 3,354, while a former official from the US Agency for International Development (USAid) said workers from it 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, UN 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 South-east Asian nations, are among those that have dispatched relief supplies and rescuers over the past week to aid in the recovery effort in quake-hit areas that are home to about 28 million people.

The US, which was until recently the world’s top humanitarian donor, had pledged at least US$9 million (S$12 million) to Myanmar to support earthquake-affected communities, but current and former US officials say the dismantling of its foreign aid programme has affected its response.

Three USAid workers who had travelled to Myanmar after the quake were told they were being let go, Ms 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 Ms Wong.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said on April 4 the junta was restricting aid supplies to quake-hit areas where communities did not back its rule.

The UN office also said it was investigating 53 reported attacks by the junta against opponents, including air strikes, 16 of which happened after the ceasefire was declared on April 2.

A junta spokesman did not respond to calls seeking comment.

Free Burma Rangers, a relief group, told Reuters on April 5 that the military had dropped bombs in Karenni and southern Shan states on April 3 and 4 despite the ceasefire announcement, killing at least five people. The victims included civilians, according to the group’s founder, Mr 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 April 5.

Gen Min Aung Hlaing made the rare trip to attend a summit of South Asian and South-east Asian nations on April 4, where he also met separately with the leaders of Thailand, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka.

Mr Modi called for a 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 April 4.

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

Since overthrowing the elected civilian 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 March 28 quake.

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