Powerful nation’s ‘outrageous’ move after quake kills thousands
A war-torn nation has been slammed for its “outrageous” move after a devastating earthquake which has left over 2,000 people dead.
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Myanmar’s military-run government has been slammed for its “outrageous” move to continue air strikes as the war-torn country grapples with the aftermath of an earthquake which has left over 2,000 people dead.
The 7.7 magnitude earthquake – the biggest to hit the nation in over a century – struck central Myanmar at 12.51pm on Friday, local time, killing at least 2,056 people and injuring over 3,900.
Hundreds more people are still missing.
At least 19 deaths have been confirmed hundreds of kilometres away in Thailand’s capital of Bangkok, where the force of the quake caused a 30-storey tower block under construction to collapse.
Despite the devastation, Myanmar’s military junta has conducted 11 air and artillery strikes across the nation since the earthquake, killing 10 people, Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government of wrote in a post on X on Monday.
One ethnic minority armed group told AFP on Sunday that seven of its fighters were killed in an aerial attack soon after the earthquake.
The strikes come as Myanmar has been ravaged by four years of civil war sparked by a 2021 military coup, which has seen the military pitted against a complex array of anti-coup fighters and ethnic minority armed groups.
The war has displaced around 3.5 million people, and ravaged the nation’s infrastructure and healthcare system, leaving it ill-equipped to respond to such a disaster.
In a statement on the recent strikes, one of the armies fighting against the government, the Karen National Union, said the junta “continues to carry out air strikes targeting civilian areas, even as the population suffers tremendously from the earthquake”.
Activists have also condemned the decision to continue the deadly strikes instead of focusing on much-needed assistance to survivors.
“Outrageous and unacceptable actions by #Myanmar military junta which should be concentrating on helping rescue people from the earthquake and providing them with urgently needed humanitarian assistance, but instead continues to bomb them,” Phil Robertson, the deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division, wrote on X.
The UN special rapporteur on Myanmar, Tom Andrews, also slammed the “completely outrageous” move, telling the BBC at least three air strikes were carried out on the Sagain region.
“The incredible damage that’s going to be created by, first of all, just a diversion of people having to deal with this military operation, and divert relief operations — but obviously if you’ve got bombs being dropped from the sky while you’re trying to rescue people it’s nothing short of incredible,” Mr Andrews said.
– The Emergency Action Alliance has launched a centralised appeal for the victims of the Myanmar earthquake. Donations can be made here or by calling 1300 939 000 –
Closer to home, Julie Bishop, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Myanmar and former Australian foreign minister, said the earthquake was “heartbreaking for the people of Myanmar” and called on all parties to end the violence to focus on relief efforts.
“This natural disaster will greatly exacerbate an already dire situation for the people of Myanmar,” Ms Bishop told The Australian.
“The situation has now become even more urgent and disastrous and I call upon all the parties to the conflict to cease all violence now so we can focus our attention and resources and effort on assisting those people in desperate need.”
Minute of silence as quake toll passes 2,000
Myanmar’s junta announced it will mark a minute of silence on Tuesday to pay tribute to victims of earthquake, as hopes dim of finding more survivors in the rubble of ruined buildings.
National flags will fly at half-mast until April 6 “in sympathy for the loss of life and damages”, the junta said in a statement Monday.
As part of a week of national mourning, the junta announced the minute’s silence to begin Tuesday at 12:51:02 pm (0621 GMT) — the precise time the 7.7-magnitude quake struck.
People should stop where they are to pay respect to the victims, it said, while prayers will be offered at temples and pagodas.
The announcement came as the tempo and urgency of rescue efforts wound down in Mandalay, one of the worst-affected cities and the country’s second-largest, with more than 1.7 million inhabitants.
“The situation is so dire that it’s hard to express what is happening,” said Aung Myint Hussein, chief administrator of Mandalay’s Sajja North mosque.
People prepared to camp out in the streets across Mandalay for a fourth successive night, either unable to return to ruined homes or nervous about repeated aftershocks that have rattled the city.
Some have tents but many, including young children, have been bedding down on blankets in the middle of roads, trying to keep as far from buildings as possible.
The country declared a state of emergency across the six worst-affected regions after the earth quake.
At one major hospital in the capital, Naypyidaw, medics were forced to treat the wounded in the open air.
One official described it as a “mass casualty area”.
“I haven’t seen (something) like this before. We are trying to handle the situation. I’m so exhausted now,” a doctor told AFP.
Appeal for foreign assistance
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the quake a top-level emergency as it urgently sought $8 million to save lives, while the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has launched an appeal for more than $100 million.
International aid and rescue teams have been arriving after junta chief Min Aung Hlaing made an exceptionally rare appeal for foreign assistance.
In the past, isolated Myanmar’s ruling generals have shunned aid from abroad, even after major natural disasters.
Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun thanked key allies China and Russia for their help, as well as India, and said the authorities were doing their best.
“We are trying and giving treatment to injured people and searching for missing ones,” he said.
Originally published as Powerful nation’s ‘outrageous’ move after quake kills thousands
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