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March 28, 2025, 12h50pm: A powerful earthquake strikes central Myanmar. Buildings topple, roads and bridges collapse, thousands get injured, thousands are buried under rubble, thousands die.
Four days after the earthquake, countless lives can still be saved or lost, rapid and unfettered emergency response is the most urgent matter in earthquake struck Myanmar.
What could you possibly do to make the disastrous situation even worse?
For Myanmar’s military junta, this question apparently was easy. Since the earthquake struck, the military has carried out airstrikes andlimited internet access in severely affected areas, further complicating the humanitarian response.
This response is quite in line with the junta’s past practice, one they should break free from immediately and focus on saving lives.
Even prior to the earthquake, humanitarian needs had surged in central Myanmar where opposition groups have been fighting Myanmar security forces and allied militias since the February 2021 coup.
The junta is obligated under international human rights law and humanitarian law, to uphold basic human rights and facilitate rapid and impartial humanitarian assistance to all civilians. They cannot withhold consent for relief operations on arbitrary grounds.
Although the major cities hit by the earthquake are under junta control, there are large swathes of the country affected that are under control of the anti-junta opposition or are contested.
The junta requested international assistance and declared an emergency in six states and regions, within hours of the earthquake. Several countries have offered assistance and the junta indicated that all assistance was welcome, but emergency workers from Taiwan were refused entry.
Days have passed, people remain trapped in the rubble and the search for survivors is done with no machinery or safety equipment. In at least one city, rescuers have run out of body bags and cities are filled with the smell of decaying corpses.
There are reports of areas without electricity, clean water, food shortages, gasoline shortages and people sleeping outside in urgent need of shelter. In the contested or opposition-controlled areas, the military has restricted internet access severely.
Myanmar’s junta can clearly not be trusted to respond to a disaster of this scale. The international community needs to press the junta to allow full and immediate access to survivors wherever they are. Aid blocks and bombs are not the answer.
