As the number of people killed in the earthquake rises, the United Nations urges relief efforts

 

 in Myanmar. The death toll from last week’s massive earthquake in Myanmar rose to 3,455, state media said Saturday, as U.N. agencies and foreign aid donors ramped up their emergency relief efforts.

 Six regions and states, including the capital, Naypyitaw, sustained significant damage when the 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck a large portion of the country. The earthquake damaged roads and bridges, left many areas without power or cell phone service, and made it difficult to estimate the extent of the damage. According to the United Nations, it also exacerbated an already dire humanitarian crisis brought on by the country's civil war, which has internally displaced more than 3 million people and left nearly 20 million in need. The second-strongest earthquake in history in Myanmar The military government’s leader, Senior Gen.  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.

 Min Aung Hlaing told Cabinet members Saturday that the quake’s death toll has reached 3,455, with 4,840 injured and 214 missing, according to a report on state television MRTV.

 He said 5,223 buildings, 1,824 schools, 2,752 Buddhist monasterial living quarters, 4,817 pagodas and temples, 167 hospitals and clinics, 169 bridges, 198 dams and 184 sections of the country’s main highway were damaged by the earthquake.

 A country torn by war

 When the military of Myanmar overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi's democratically elected government in 2021, it sparked armed resistance that analysts now believe controls more territory than the army. Members of the U.N.  Security Council “recognized 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, Jérôme Bonnafont of France, said in a press statement Friday.

 According to the statement, the members of the council “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,” an apparent reference to the fighting in Myanmar and concerns that the military government there would block or delay aid to areas under the control of resistance forces. According to state media, Vice Senior Gen.  Soe Win, the vice chairman of the ruling military council, said that any international organizations coming to Myanmar to provide assistance are required to seek prior permission from Myanmar’s authorities, and their efforts will be permitted only when they cooperate with relevant officials.

 Aid sparks an unusual diplomatic flurry

 Maj.  Gen.  The military government's spokesperson, Zaw Min Tun, told the media on Saturday as he returned from a regional summit in Bangkok that prime ministers and officials from participating nations, including India and Thailand, had pledged to provide the necessary assistance for relief efforts and rehabilitation in quake-hit areas. Everyone assisted Myanmar's victims of the earthquake. Everyone sympathized.  Everyone was aware. Everyone was eager to assist. It seems like everyone is working together,” stated Zaw Min Tun. He said that 18 countries were providing assistance to affected areas, and more than 60 aircraft had flown in to transport rescuers and relief supplies.

 The United Kingdom contributed an additional 10 million pounds, or approximately $12.8 million, to the ongoing humanitarian response, according to a statement released Saturday by its embassy in Yangon. This brings the total amount of assistance provided by the United Kingdom to up to 25 million pounds, or approximately $32 million. In contrast to the usual reluctance to engage with a large portion of the global community, there has been an unusual flurry of diplomatic activity in Myanmar over the past few days. Many Western nations condemn Min Aung Hlaing and senior members of his government for their 2021 takeover and violations of human rights. His visit to the meeting in the Thai capital Bangkok was his first to a country other than his government’s main backers — China, Russia and Russian ally Belarus — since he attended another regional meeting in Indonesia in 2021.

 On Saturday, Min Aung Hlaing received Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan and Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa for discussions regarding cooperation in health care in quake-affected areas and relief assistance from other ASEAN members. Although reports of diplomatic activity focus on earthquake relief, there is awareness that the crisis in Myanmar cannot end until the war there stops, and the country’s neighbors have been leading efforts to find a path for peace, even though neither the military nor its foes have shown any serious effort to negotiate.

 A fragile temporary ceasefire

 However, the military and several key armed resistance groups have all declared temporary ceasefires on Wednesday in the wake of the earthquake to facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid.

 The U.N.  Friday, the Human Rights Office stated that more than 60 attacks had occurred following the earthquake, including 16 since the ceasefire, and that the military was responsible for these attacks. The opposition's shadow National Unity Government, which leads resistance to army rule, accused the military Saturday of carrying out 63 airstrikes and artillery attacks since the earthquake, resulting in the deaths of 68 civilians, including one child and 15 women.