Introduction
On Friday, March 28th, at around 1 pm, Myanmar was hit by a devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake. The quake’s epicentre was near the country’s second-largest city, Mandalay, which has a population of about 1.5 million people and suffered the most serious damage. To the first earthquake, a second smaller one followed, and aftershocks continued for days.
The degree of the tragedy is measurable by looking at the records, including more than 3,700 casualties, 4,800 injured, and 129 people still missing. Additionally, tens of thousands of Burmese people are left without electricity and mobile lines. Furthermore, it is estimated that more than 4.3 million people urgently need clean water and sanitation, as the earthquake severely damaged water systems and caused widespread power outages.
According to the military junta that has been governing the country since it overthrew the democratic government in 2021, more than 1,500 houses were destroyed in the Mandalay region, and the number of people rummaging through the debris with their bare hands, searching for survivors, is set to increase daily.
The earthquake’s aftermath in junta-controlled Myanmar and the difficulties in receiving humanitarian aid
Since the 2021 coup, Myanmar has been devastated by a civil war between the military junta that ousted the former democratically elected government and the ethnic armed groups and rebel groups that oppose the military government.
Grave humanitarian crises following the earthquake
After the earthquake, the situation for the Burmese people has worsened. The Red Cross estimates that $100 million will be needed to start humanitarian aid operations in Myanmar, while the UN aims to gather $8 million in aid for its earthquake response. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) reported that Burmese people “urgently require medical care, clean drinking water, tents, food, and other basic necessities”. The IRC added that such a need is especially required around Mandalay, where there is no electricity, water is running out, and hospitals are overwhelmed.
Adding to these astonishing details, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) underlined how malnutrition has also become a growing concern as the lack of available food rises and nutrition support becomes harder to deliver. Similarly, education has also taken a harsh hit. The earthquake has damaged hundreds of classrooms and schools, and with the new school year starting in June, it is a race against time to rebuild in time.
Myanmar’s fragmentation
Difficulties in providing aid to Myanmar stem primarily from the fragmentation of the country. Namely, as a consequence of the four-year civil war, certain areas of the country, especially urban areas like the city of Mandalay, are controlled by the military junta, while others, like the epicentre of the earthquake, are under the pro-democracy resistance groups. Frequently, the junta sets up checkpoints along the country’s main roads, thus prohibiting humanitarian aid and international assistance from entering the cities it controls. Further obstacles to delivering aid are due to the destruction of all of Myanmar’s main roads and bridges after the earthquake.
A country director for an international non-governmental organisation operating in Myanmar spoke about this situation, stating that due to the fragmented geopolitical situation in Myanmar, with some areas of the country controlled by the junta and others controlled by the People’s Defence Force (PDF), it will be very hard to receive aid and to calculate the exact damages suffered.
Amnesty International also made remarks on this topic when it urged the junta to allow aid groups to enter freely, recognising the already difficult situation the country was going through before the quake.
State-controlled media
Due to the military junta’s media control, experts anticipate that the number of casualties and displaced people must be higher. In fact, the military dictatorship, known for minimising the gravity of national disasters, controls all national radios, televisions, print, online media, and has also restricted access to the internet to filter all the information that is sent out of the country. Hence, the news received from Myanmar is often unreliable, and the exact number of deaths and damage may never be revealed. Additionally, the junta banned foreign journalists from entering the country by announcing that it would not grant visas for foreign reporters who would like to cover the aftermath of the earthquake.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that according to the Myanmar Internet Project – a website that monitors internet shutdowns in different regions of Myanmar– there were a total of 357 internet shutdowns since the coup, and every township has experienced some level of communications outage at least twice since the earthquake.
Myanmar’s isolation
It must be noted that the military junta does not enjoy the approval of the international community. Since it took power in 2021, the junta closed off Myanmar’s borders to the world, isolating the country. Thus, when Min Aung Hlaing – the leader of Myanmar’s military government – decided to issue an emergency alert and appealed to foreign states for help, only Russia, China, India, and a few other neighbouring states that have been supporting its power, were allowed to send humanitarian aid into the country.
The Junta’s behaviour after the quake
A pivotal point needs to be addressed at this point: when the earthquake hit, Myanmar had been enduring daily fights, air strikes, and violence between the Junta and the ethnic armed groups for four years.
On the one hand, after the earthquake, on March 30th, the National Unity Government (NUG), which represents the ousted civilian administration, announced that its armed wing, the PDF, would pause all its military operations in the areas affected by the quake, except for the defensive ones for two weeks, to allow rescuers and humanitarian aid to assist the population in need.
On the other hand, witness reports highlighted how, even after the earthquake, the junta continued bombing parts of the country in a series of attacks, defined as “completely outrageous and unacceptable” by the United Nations (UN). Documented accounts revealed that the first strike conducted by the military that killed seven people took place just three hours after the quake had struck.
Experts have indicated the rationale behind these aerial attacks: after four years of conflict, the military junta has lost territory to the ethnic armed groups. The only situation where it maintains the upper hand is in air combat, as the ethnic groups lack the necessary means to combat these kinds of attacks. Therefore, the junta wanted to take advantage of the earthquake crisis to inflict a tough attack on the PDF.
Outstanding human rights violations
The UN body investigating human rights violations in the country has warned that the military junta is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity against its own people. The UN has also raised concerns that the military will use aid as a weapon in the civil war.
According to UN experts, Myanmar’s military is used to denying aid to areas where resistance groups are active. This practice was also reported during past relief efforts when the military blocked aid and arrested aid workers. Tom Andrews, UN correspondent, explained that it is very common for the junta to “weaponise the aid” by sending it to those areas they have control of and denying it to areas that they do not. He continued by underlining that there are areas where most help is needed, and access to such help is prevented by trucks blocking the way and people being arrested.
Reports describing the military junta as seizing aid have also risen. A doctor claimed that the military was using its control over checkpoints to block medicine from going into areas controlled by pro-democratic forces and ethnic groups.
Finally, it has been argued that the military junta is using the aftermath of the quake as an excuse to display political alliances. Emergency responders from China and Russia, two of Myanmar’s strongest allies, were allowed to enter Myanmar and bring aid, while multiple Western aid agencies struggled to get into the country.
The future of humanitarian aid in Myanmar
Despite all the difficulties and the obstacles raised by the junta, on April 18th, international organisations managed to reach over 240,000 people with food, medical supplies, and essential items. Furthermore, over 100 tonnes of medical supplies have been delivered, and mobile health centres are being established to support the physical and psychological trauma of the affected population.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs underlines how, although this is a good starting point, much work is still needed. In fact, it highlighted how thorough and robust assistance, including water, temporary toilets, and phone-charging stations, was provided in the territory of the seat of the junta, but more remote regions, and, especially, those regions controlled by the government forces, were prevented from receiving any aid.
The future of the civil war in Myanmar
Following the earthquake, more and more people advocated for an end to the hostilities. Both the ousted government and some ethnic armed groups have agreed to a two-week ceasefire in the hope that it could be the start of a longer period of stability, leading to a definite peace. However, the military junta rejected the proposal, arguing that organising and training by ethnic armed groups “are still considered attacks”. For this reason, it took longer for the military junta to accept the ceasefire while it kept carrying out airstrikes.
On April 2nd, the military government finally agreed to the ceasefire, announcing a truce lasting until April 22nd to help focus on “speeding up relief and reconstruction efforts and maintaining peace and stability” after the quake. But the junta warned its opponents that it would still respond to any attacks, sabotage, or “gathering, organising,, and expanding territory that would undermine peace.”
Conclusion
Even before the earthquake, Myanmar was torn apart. Four years of civil war, countless casualties, hundreds of injured, thousands of displaced, and numerous violations of human rights made the lives of the Burmese people miserable. The March 2025 earthquake caused more havoc and destruction in the country.
Nonetheless, the magnitude of the quake and its spread to neighbouring countries, such as Thailand, made everyone realise the size of the disaster. Such a huge catastrophe forced the military junta to open, for the first time in years, the country’s borders to international aid. With international aid, international media entered the country too and revealed to the world the horrendous situation of human rights abuses in the country.
Hopefully, the arrival of humanitarian aid, the international media coverage, and the temporary ceasefire will mean a long-lasting peace for the Burmese people.
Bibliography
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