Extreme weather is complicating efforts to provide relief for hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the March 28 earthquake in Myanmar, as the death toll from the disaster exceeded 3,600.
As the week began, efforts to find survivors among the rubble of collapsed buildings had been supplanted by activities aimed at relieving survivors of the 7.7 magnitude earthquake, which devastated a large swathe of central Myanmar, including Sagaing, Mandalay, Naypyidaw, Magwe, and Bago regions.
According to figures released by the military junta yesterday, the death toll from the quake stood at 3,600, with 5,017 people injured and 160 still missing, although, given the damage to transport and communications infrastructure, this is very likely an underestimate. The military junta said that 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, the Associated Press reported.
In an earthquake update released yesterday, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimated that over 17.2 million people live in affected areas, and that more than 9.1 million were exposed to the strongest tremors, which affected 58 of the country’s 330 townships. People continue to shelter in the open, because their homes were destroyed in the earthquake or out of fear that damaged structures will collapse.
“Entire communities have been upended, forcing people to seek shelter in makeshift conditions, disrupting markets, worsening psychosocial distress and bringing essential services – including running water, sanitation and health – to the verge of collapse,” it stated. “Urgent needs include food, drinking water, healthcare, cash assistance and emergency shelter.”
OCHA added that people left homeless by the earthquakes have faced challenging conditions; many areas hit by the earthquake remain without power, phone, or internet connections. April is also the hottest and driest month of the year in Myanmar’s dry central plain, with temperatures routinely creeping into the high 30s.
On April 5, unseasonal rains reportedly drenched Mandalay and Sagaing, complicating relief efforts. An official from the Myanmar Rescue Federation (Mandalay) told the AP on Sunday that rescuers “had to temporarily shut down electrical equipment and machines used in search operations due to the rain on Saturday and Sunday, making work more difficult but not halting it,” the news agency reported. (The monsoon does not usually reach central Myanmar until May, although downpours occasionally occur earlier.)
A notice published yesterday in the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar warned the public that “untimely rain” was set to sweep much of the country over the coming week, reaching a peak between April 12 and 14. It warned the public that the downpours could be accompanied by “strong wind, thunder, lightning, hails, and landslide.” At the same time, the Associated Press reported that daytime temperatures are forecast to reach 38 degrees Celsius by mid-week.
“People left homeless by the earthquakes are exposed to extreme heat during the country’s hottest and driest month of the year, while the looming monsoon season poses an additional threat to those sheltering in the open,” OCHA stated. According to aid workers, the combination of rain and scorching heat has also increased the risk of disease outbreaks at the outdoor camps that house quake survivors.
Meanwhile, fighting has reportedly continued in parts of the country, with the military and major ethnic armed groups trading accusations about who broke a series of unilateral humanitarian ceasefires announced in the wake of the disaster.
According to a BBC report published yesterday, the military accused two members of the Three Brotherhood Alliance, which announced a “humanitarian pause” on April 1, of carrying out attacks. One group said fighting broke out in response to “offensives” by the military, which declared a similar ceasefire on April 2. At least 14 attacks by the military have been reported since its temporary ceasefire announcement, the U.N. human rights office said in a statement on Friday. Prior to its ceasefire, the military was accused of carrying out air strikes in a number of regions, including areas directly affected by the earthquake.