Myanmar: Military strikes persist amid earthquake response efforts

This article is published in association with United Nations.

Military operations continue in Myanmar despite ceasefires declared after the recent earthquake that killed more than 3,600 people, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said on Friday. 

“At a moment when the sole focus should be on ensuring humanitarian aid gets to disaster zones, the military is instead launching attacks,” spokesperson Ravini Shamdasani told journalists in Geneva.

Since the 28 March disaster, military forces have reportedly carried out over 120 attacks, she said, and more than half occurred after a declared ceasefire was due to have gone into effect on 2 April.

Devastated areas hit

Most attacks involved aerial and artillery strikes, including in areas impacted by the quake. 

“Numerous strikes have been reported in populated areas, with many appearing to amount to indiscriminate attacks and to breach the principle of proportionality in international humanitarian law,” she added.

Myanmar was already facing political, humanitarian, human rights and economic crisis before the earthquake struck.  

The miliary seized power from the democratically elected government in February 2021 and has been engaged in a brutal civil war with opposition militias.

Aid obstacles, amnesty appeal

Ms. Shamdasani said UN human rights chief Volker Türk is calling on the military to remove any and all obstacles to aid delivery and to cease military operations. 

She noted that areas at the epicentre of the quake in Sagaing, particularly those controlled by opponents of the military, have had to rely on local community responses for search and rescue, and to meet basic needs.

“As the traditionally festive season of Thingyan and the start of a new year begins on Sunday in Myanmar, we call for common efforts to assist those in greatest need,” she added.

In this regard, OHCHR called on the military to announce a full amnesty for detainees it has incarcerated since February 2021, including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint.

‘Perfect storm’ for disease

Meanwhile, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is worried that the earthquake has created “a perfect storm for the emergence of infectious disease outbreaks.”

Eric Ribaira, UNICEF Myanmar’s chief of health said that even before the disaster, the country faced outbreaks of vaccine preventable and communicable diseases such as measles, malaria, dengue and cholera.

“The situation is so much more dangerous now for people, especially children, in these earthquake-affected areas,” he told UN News.

Mr. Ribaira explained that earthquakes spark population displacement which can lead to overcrowded areas, such as temporary shelters, while water and sanitation systems are disrupted causing contaminated water supplies and poor hygiene conditions.

Children may also get respiratory infections from dust and debris from collapsed buildings, he added.

UNICEF is helping to provide clean drinking water and sanitation, as well as necessary supplies so that pregnant women can deliver safely. 

“So far, we have reached about 700 pregnant and lactating women with newborn and clean delivery kits. And we plan to reach much, much more in the coming days,” said Mr. Ribaira.

UNICEF and aid partners have also deployed general medical kits to cover approximately 250,000 people for the next three months, but he stressed that more support is critical.

“The needs are huge, and we must do everything we can to prevent these outbreaks and ensure that women can deliver their babies safely and the general population has urgent medical support when they need it,” he said.

UN mobilizing aid

This week, the UN and partners launched a $275 million appeal as an addendum to a humanitarian plan to reach some 1.1 people in Myanmar.

The earthquake has pushed two million people into reliance on aid. They join nearly 20 million others who already required humanitarian assistance.

UN agencies, partners and Member States have rapidly mobilized aid, including medical care, shelter, safe water, hygiene kits, and food.

To further strengthen efforts on the ground, the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) has allocated an additional $5 million for earthquake response, which follows an earlier disbursement of $5 million.