Myanmar: Army Fuels Chaos After Earthquake

The U.S. Geological Survey collaborates nationally and internationally with seismic networks and agencies to share data and expertise. According to the agency, the death toll from the earthquake in Myanmar is expected to reach at least 10,000. In Sagaing, near the epicenter, 80% of the city was destroyed, according to residents.

In Naypyidaw, the country's capital, 10,000 buildings are said to have collapsed. The few Burmese journalists who remain are reporting terrifying episodes: "A Mandalay resident says that regime soldiers seized all the excavators in her neighborhood at gunpoint, leaving nothing to save the children trapped under the rubble," wrote Yan Naing Aung, according to AsiaNews.

The Archbishop of Mandalay Marco Tin Win claims that his diocese was destroyed by the earthquake: "The diocesan clergy house was destroyed, and priests are sleeping on the ground outside with the people," the prelate said. "Many people are desperately searching for missing family members," he added.

Religious congregations have mobilized to provide aid. Some Salesian volunteers have managed to reach the city of Sagaing, which residents say is 80-90% destroyed. The Friars Minor from the Pyin Oo Lwin region are also active in Myanmar's second-largest city.

Meanwhile, the military junta has rejected ceasefire proposals put forward by the rebel groups that make up the resistance. On March 29, Cardinal Charles Bo and the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Myanmar called for an urgent cessation of hostilities to allow the free passage of humanitarian aid to the population.

But the Burmese army continues to focus on suppressing rebel groups rather than conduct rescue operations. It is a decision that pro-resistance media outlets denounce. A health worker tells AsiaNews about fleeing her village in Mandalay due to the bombings by the coup junta, which continued even after the earthquake.

The Burmese junta, however, announced a 20-day cessation of hostilities to allow aid and relief supplies from some foreign countries to reach people in areas devastated by the 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck Myanmar. However, many Burmese do not trust the military's announcements.

Khin Mar Hlaing, a paramedic, helped extract villagers trapped under the rubble and treat the injured in the Sagaing region. But "after the third earthquake, about 100 SAC (the ruling military junta) soldiers arrived. Five of them helped with the rescue operations, but the others looted the [Buddhist] monastery and houses in the neighborhood, threatening the residents," she said.

The villagers became frightened and fled to safety. They finally reached a monastery in Mandalay, which was sheltering internally displaced people, after three days of walking. "In my opinion, the SAC is using this disaster to promote military operations and airstrikes, especially in Sagaing and other ethnic areas," Khin Mar Hlaing commented.

The SAC's blindness led them to make a blunder. Burmese generals confirmed they had opened fire on a Chinese Red Crescent Society convoy traveling in Shan State, a region where some villages are controlled by the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), one of the ethnic militias operating in Myanmar's northern regions.

Following this incident, in which no personnel were injured, Beijing issued a brief statement in which it "firmly urges all parties in Burma to guarantee the safety of humanitarian workers engaged in earthquake relief," according to statements by the Chinese Foreign Minister.

It should be remembered that China is the main financial backer of the Burmese coup junta and is now trying to fill the void left by the USAID budget cuts. Beijing has indeed sent 30 relief teams to Burma, a total of more than 500 people.