On Saturday, state media reported that the death toll from Myanmar’s catastrophic earthquake had increased to 3,354, with 4,850 injured and 220 missing. The visiting U.N. aid chief commended humanitarian and community organisations for organising the aid response.
After a rare foreign trip to attend a summit of South and Southeast Asian nations in Bangkok, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the leader of the military government, returned to the capital, Naypyitaw. At the summit, he also conferred separately with the leaders of Thailand, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and India.
Myanmar state media reported that Min Aung Hlaing reiterated the junta’s intention to conduct “free and fair” elections in December during a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Modi urged for the permanent implementation of a post-quake ceasefire in Myanmar’s civil conflict and emphasised the necessity of “inclusive and credible” elections, according to a spokesperson for the Indian foreign affairs ministry on Friday.
The proposed election has been criticised by critics as a ruse to maintain the generals’ control through proxies.
The military has been unable to effectively manage Myanmar since the overthrow of the elected civilian government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021. This has resulted in the economy and essential services, including healthcare, being dismantled, a situation that was further exacerbated by the earthquake on March 28.
The United Nations reports that the civil war that ensued after the coup has resulted in the displacement of over 3 million individuals, as well as the pervasive occurrence of food insecurity and the need for humanitarian assistance by more than one-third of the population.
In a post on X, United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher stated that humanitarian and community groups had led the response to the tremor with “courage, skill, and determination” after spending Friday night in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, which is located near the epicentre of the earthquake.
“Despite the fact that many of them had lost everything, they continued to travel to provide assistance to the survivors,” he stated.
On Friday, the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights announced that the junta was limiting the distribution of aid to earthquake-affected regions where the communities did not support its rule. The U.N. office announced that it was conducting an investigation into 53 reported attacks by the junta against opponents, including airstrikes. Of these, 16 occurred after the ceasefire was declared on Wednesday.
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