'Weaponization of aid': Myanmar accused of blocking rescue efforts after deadly earthquake

CBC

03-04-2025

Mere hours after the devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit central Myanmar last Friday, the head of the military junta controlling the country, Min Aung Hlaing, pleaded for any and all international assistance to be sent quickly to the isolated country.
Hlaing claimed he had "opened all ways for foreign aid," as he asked for countries and organizations to "come and help" with desperately needed rescue efforts after the quake buckled roads and toppled thousands of buildings, trapping an untold number of people.
Nearly a week after the earthquake, the death toll was at 3,145 people, with more than 4,500 people injured and many more still stuck under debris. The actual numbers are expected to be much higher.
Hlaing's appeal was an extremely rare move for the military leader, who seized power in a coup that deposed the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in early 2021, and promptly sealed the country off from the rest of the world.
The power grab was followed by bloody crackdowns on dissent across the country, and an ongoing civil war.
The call for help provided a tiny glimmer of hope among experts on Myanmar's political situation that this disaster might be different from previous ones to hit the country, such as 2023's Cyclone Mocha, when aid efforts were obstructed.
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But that hope quickly dissipated.
Numerous aid organizations and human rights groups confirmed that rapid assistance earmarked for those in Myanmar who needed it most was being blocked, as the "golden" rescue window of 72 hours after a massive earthquake — in which you're most likely to find survivors trapped under the rubble — closed.
"It has just turned out to be a disaster," Tom Andrews, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, told CBC News during an interview in Bangkok, Thailand, which also suffered damage more than a thousand kilometres from the quake's epicentre. (A skyscraper under construction collapsed, trapping more than 80 workers. More than a dozen are confirmed dead.)
"We know that aid [in Myanmar] has been obstructed. We know there have been arrests and blockades at checkpoints in areas where they don't want aid to go," Andrews said.
"There's a weaponization of this aid."
'I've seen this movie before'
In the days following the earthquake — the worst the region has seen in a century — the military continued airstrikes and bombings on rebel-held territories. The junta currently controls less than a third of the country, with its power concentrated in the big cities.
But on Wednesday, Myanmar's army leaders declared a temporary three-week ceasefire to support relief efforts, after the military government drew widespread condemnation for firing on a Chinese Red Cross convoy trying to deliver food and medicine to survivors.
A junta spokesperson confirmed that soldiers shot at the vehicles because, he said, they hadn't been notified the convoy would be arriving.
Rescue teams from the junta's allies — including China and Russia — were the first to enter the country to provide assistance, along with crews from countries like India, which has maintained cordial relations with Myanmar's army leaders.
The ruling junta has been shunned and sanctioned by most Western countries.
According to Andrews, the junta is following a familiar playbook by obstructing crucial aid, particularly in regions where armed resistance to the coup is strong. It's a tactic used in the past to consolidate the army's power in Myanmar.
"I've seen this movie before and it doesn't have a happy ending," Andrews said.
Pressure on junta
He added that the continued airstrikes were also creating "a whole level of fear and terror" across the war-torn country, where some 20 million Burmese were already deprived of proper access to food and shelter before the earthquake hit.
"We need all hands on deck in Myanmar. But instead they're being diverted away and instead of lives being saved, they're being taken," Andrews said.
The disaster has raised questions about whether the junta will be able to hold onto power as resistance deepens.
The earthquake caused extensive damage in the new capital of Naypyidaw, a heavily fortified city created by a previous military general to shore up the army's hold on Myanmar and insulate its leaders from popular dissent. The city's air traffic control tower toppled and several government ministry wings collapsed.
One retired school principal told the New York Times that Myanmar has "a saying that a massive earthquake like this is nature's way of punishing a cruel and corrupt ruler."
"After killing so many people, Min Aung Hlaing is now facing the judgment of nature," she added.
In November, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Hlaing for crimes against humanity, related to the country's persecution and deportations of its Muslim Rohingya community.
Desperation grows
Six days after the disaster, there was chaos amid the hundreds of collapsed buildings close to the epicentre. Many residents are crowding parks and other open spaces at night, too terrified to enter their partially cracked homes, while others are unable to return to demolished houses.
"In Mandalay city, most of us are doing it all by ourselves," said Khin Thazin Aung, 31, unable to fight back the tears as she described local rescue efforts.
"We need everything — things like food and shelter. But [our government] cannot help us," she told CBC News, adding that she hoped the world knows how urgently Myanmar needs aid.
Many residents are struggling with trauma, said Aung, who said she had seen some survivors shaking uncontrollably, as the smell of bodies trapped under rubble wafted through the air.
In the shadow of a major bridge that collapsed in the quake, Tin, who only gave his first name to the Reuters wire service, was combing the river for his daughter's body.
"I am searching for her myself, because there are no rescue operations here," he said. "No one is here to help me."
Myanmar's military leaders have refused to allow foreign journalists into the country to cover the devastation.
Some aid organizations have also had a difficult time entering Myanmar, said Mikhael De Souza, project director for Médecins sans frontières (MSF) in the former capital, Yangon.
But he's still hopeful the scale of the devastation, on top of the international spotlight, will sway the junta to let in more aid.
"We have teams and a lot of material just waiting to enter the country, and I have good hopes that it will happen very soon," De Souza told CBC News on Thursday.
Still, he acknowledged Myanmar is a "difficult, complex country" whose military government has been challenging to negotiate with in the past.
Damaged infrastructure is also impeding the speed of rescue and recovery efforts, with the drive from Yangon, the largest city, to Mandalay near the epicentre now taking double the usual eight hours.
De Souza said the primary health concern is a lack of electricity and clean water in the disaster zone, with fears that the lack of infection control in damaged hospitals could provoke a cholera epidemic.
Monsoon season is also around the corner, which will compound already catastrophic conditions in the central part of the country.