King and Queen give ‘generous' donation to UK's Myanmar earthquake appeal
The King and Queen are among those who have donated to the UK's Disaster Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal to help people affected by the earthquake in Myanmar.
The appeal raised £7.5 million on the first day and donations from the public are being matched pound for pound by the UK Government up to £5 million, as part of its UK Aid Match scheme.
Made up of 15 UK aid agencies – including the British Red Cross, Oxfam and Save the Children – the DEC issued an urgent appeal for funds to help the thousands injured and displaced.
The DEC said the total included a 'generous' donation from the King and Queen, who are regular supporters.
More than 3,100 people have died so far in Myanmar and more than 4,500 have been injured, according to Myanmar's military government.
Saleh Saeed, the chief executive of the DEC, said: 'We are extremely grateful to all the people who have already donated to the DEC Myanmar earthquake appeal.
'Once again, the UK public have shown their immense generosity and desire to help those impacted by disasters.
'The stories we are now hearing from the survivors who have managed to escape the ruins of flattened buildings are harrowing.
'Children have lost their families. Thousands have suffered life-changing injuries. Countless more have had their homes and possessions destroyed.
'Life-saving aid is already being delivered by member charities using funds donated to the DEC. But we can reach more people, families and children with your donations. If you are able – please help.'
The earthquake that hit last Friday has exacerbated an existing humanitarian crisis caused by the country's civil war.
The UN said on Friday that the military had launched dozens of strikes over the past week, even after the junta joined its opponents on Wednesday in calling a temporary halt to hostilities for relief to be delivered.
'There have been 16 reports, credible reports, of air strikes ongoing in different parts of the country, including areas impacted by the earthquakes, since the ceasefire went into effect on April 2,' James Rodehaver, the head of the UN rights office's Myanmar team, said.
It said it had received reports of more than 60 attacks in total carried out by the military since the earthquake.
Volker Turk, the UN rights chief, called in a statement for the truce to be honoured by allowing humanitarian and rescue workers immediate and unrestricted access to all those in need.
'I urge a halt to all military operations, and for the focus to be on assisting those impacted by the quake, as well as ensuring unhindered access to humanitarian organisations that are ready to support,' he said.
'I hope this terrible tragedy can be a turning point for the country towards an inclusive political solution.'
Min Aung Hlaing, the country's ostracised junta leader, met the prime ministers of India and Thailand at a regional summit called Bimstec in Bangkok on Friday.
Shunned by most world leaders since leading a 2021 coup that overthrew an elected government, Gen Hlaing's rare foreign trip exploits a window opened by the earthquake to ramp up diplomacy.
On the sidelines of Bimstec, Gen Hlaing had two-way meetings with Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the Thai premier, and Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister.
An Indian foreign ministry spokesman said Mr Modi had called for the truce to be made permanent.
'Political resolution to the conflict is the only way forward, starting with inclusive and credible elections,' Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesman, said.
Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Israel admits firing towards Gazans near US aid centre
Israel has admitted firing 'near' civilians in the vicinity of a Gazan aid centre after 27 people were reportedly killed. The shooting on Tuesday morning is the third in as many days fuelling mounting criticism of Israel's controversial new aid delivery system. On Sunday, more than 30 people died in a similar incident. Witnesses reported civilians being shot from quad-copter drones near the distribution hub, run by American contractors, in the Rafah area of southern Gaza. An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman said 'suspects' had ventured towards troops less than a third of a mile from the hub, prompting them to fire warning shots. He said that 'after the suspects failed to retreat, the additional shots were fired towards a few individual suspects who advanced towards the troops'. He added: 'The IDF is aware of reports regarding casualties, and the details of the incident are being looked into.' The International Committee of the Red Cross said its Rafah field hospital had received 165 wounded people, eight of whom later died from their wounds. The hospital also received 19 people who were declared dead on entry. The 27 bodies were transferred to the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, run by the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry, which said they had been killed on Tuesday morning. Volker Turk, the UN's human rights chief, said the deadly attacks on civilians around aid distribution sites constituted a 'war crime'. The UN, which used to deliver aid to community pick-up points until access was blocked in early March, will not collaborate with the new system because it claims it breaches humanitarian principles. Israel has strongly attacked recent UN criticism of the aid scheme, accusing it of failing to condemn Hamas sufficiently. There are now four distribution centres run by the Gaza Heath Foundation (GHF) in the largely devastated south of the Strip. The government claimed the new method of distribution was to stop aid being stolen by the terror group. The humanitarian concerns come after Hamas supporters released a video appearing to show a man being savagely tortured for allegedly stealing food, as the group seeks to retain control of the civilian population. Yasser Abu Lubda, a 50-year-old displaced Palestinian from Rafah, said the Tuesday's shooting started in the city's Flag Roundabout area, around one kilometre away from the aid distribution hub, at around 4am. He said he saw several people killed or wounded. Neima al-Aaraj, a woman from Khan Younis, gave a similar account. 'There were many martyrs and wounded,' she said, saying the shooting by Israeli forces was 'indiscriminate'. She said she managed to reach the hub but returned empty-handed, adding: 'There was no aid there. I won't return. Either way we will die.' Rasha al-Nahal, another witness, said that 'there was gunfire from all directions'. She said she counted more than a dozen dead and several wounded along the road. She also found no aid when she arrived at the distribution hub and that Israeli forces 'fired at us as we were returning'. Speaking about Sunday's shooting, a witness, who did not want to be named, said that quad-copter drones had been used to tell Palestinians via loudspeakers to turn back because they had approached the aid site at the wrong time. Mohammed al-Shaer, a 44-year-old witness, said: 'A helicopter and quad-copters started firing at the crowd to prevent them from approaching the tank barrier. There were injuries and deaths. I didn't reach the centre, and we didn't get any food.' The army said it was 'not preventing the arrival of Gazan civilians to the humanitarian aid distribution sites' and described the reports of deaths on Sunday as 'fabrications' by Hamas. GHF said the operations at its site went ahead safely on Tuesday, but added it was aware the military 'is investigating whether a number of civilians were injured after moving beyond the designated safe corridor and into a closed military zone'. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
‘Corpses rotting in the Nile' as cholera tears through Sudan
After Sudan's army recaptured the national capital region of Khartoum in March, tens of thousands of people returned to check on their homes and reunite with loved ones. The joy of returning was tempered by the shock of seeing the damage caused during nearly two years under the control of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group that has been fighting the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), recognised by many Sudanese and the UN as the de facto authority in Sudan, since April 2023. In a region whose hospitals and food and medicine stores had been systematically plundered by the RSF, many returnees started falling sick. Many of the returnees had settled in Omdurman, one of the national capital's three cities, where living conditions were slightly better than in the other cities. This is because several localities in Omdurman never came under the RSF's control, insulating it from heavy clashes, pillaging, and looting. Omdurman quickly became overcrowded, with 'thousands of people [returning] from Egypt alone', according to Dr Dirar Abeer, a member of Khartoum's Emergency Response Rooms, neighbourhood committees spearheading relief efforts across the country. The crowding, Dr Abeer said, meant an accelerated spread of cholera, an acute, highly contagious diarrhoeal infection that is endemic to Sudan and can be fatal if not treated. 'In areas south of the Nile in Omdurman, there are a lot of corpses rotting next to [or in] the Nile, and this has [partially] caused the spread of infection,' said Badawi, a volunteer in Omdurman who declined to give his full name due to the sensitivity of speaking in a warzone. Cholera has become an epidemic in Sudan, spreading in several states, including White Nile and Gadarif, and killing hundreds in the last two weeks. As in Khartoum, the spread was fuelled by overcrowding and a lack of essential services in these regions. The waterborne disease could be stopped with basic sanitation and provisions, said Fazli Kostan, the project coordinator for Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF. 'But that's not really possible right now,' he told Al Jazeera, referring to a lack of electricity to pump water since Omdurman's electricity grids went down on May 14. The RSF had fired a barrage of suicide drones that day, which took out major power stations and grids, consequently shutting down water treatment plants and causing a sharp rise in cases. Deprived of safe drinking and bathing water, people have resorted to drinking contaminated water from the Nile, as well as scooping up water from the ground after it rains, Badawi SAF-backed Ministry of Health (MoH) reported a huge surge in daily cholera cases in the national capital region between May 15 and May 25, with at least 172 people dying between May 20 and May 27. The UN says daily cases spiked from 90 to more than 815 in the latter half of May. Those who contract the disease often rush to the nearest hospital, further straining an already overwhelmed and ill-equipped health sector. However, local volunteers said many people do not experience life-threatening symptoms and that they would be better off staying at home and isolating themselves. The overcrowding at hospitals has further exacerbated the spread of the disease and overstrained the already collapsing health sector, they explained. 'We do not have enough medication or medical tools, and the rate of people coming to the hospitals is far more than we can handle,' said Kareem al-Noor, a medic at al-Nao hospital in Omdurman. 'The [remaining hospitals] are at full capacity and people are also waiting for treatment, crowded on the streets,' al-Noor added. Dr Abeer feels the SAF-backed health authorities are not doing enough to tackle the epidemic. While she acknowledged that the health sector was largely destroyed by the RSF, she believes the current health authorities could be doing more. Al Jazeera submitted written questions to Dr Montasser Towarra, the MoH spokesperson, asking him what measures the ministry is undertaking to help volunteers and to provide basic provisions. He had not answered by the time of publication. Sudan is also suffering an acute hunger crisis. Since the civil war, millions of Sudanese have struggled to feed their families due to spoiled harvests, the systematic looting of markets and food aid and the destruction of homes and livelihoods. According to the UN, about 25 million people – more than half the population – currently suffer extreme food shortages. Hunger can weaken bodies and lead to an acute increase in contagious diseases, according to Alex De Waal, an expert on Sudan and famine. He noted that civilians – especially children – have always been more likely to die from diseases if they are also on the brink of starvation. 'We could see an excess of hundreds of thousands of deaths [due to these factors] over the next year,' warned De UN has also warned that up to one million children could die from cholera unless the spread is thwarted quickly. The only way to thwart the health crisis is to repair basic provisions such as electricity and sewage systems to improve sanitation, said De Waal. However, he believes that repairing essential services is not a priority for the army, which remains the de facto authority. Al Jazeera sent written questions to SAF spokesperson, Nabil Abdullah, to ask if the army is planning on repairing vital resources such as bombed electricity grids. Abdullah said, 'These questions are not for the army, but for the Ministry of Health.' Tawarra from the MoH also did not respond to these questions. De Waal suspects the army is prioritising combat operations against the RSF. 'My sense is the army is too stretched financially and organisationally to prioritise anything other than fighting the war,' he told Al Jazeera.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Hamas looks to incite Gazan population to storm Israeli border, Israeli military officials fear
The military has allocated intelligence resources and reserve forces, and clarified open-fire orders for senior IDF commanders on the ground. Senior IDF officials held a security assessment to discuss an extreme scenario in which Hamas could incite the population in central and southern Gaza to storm the Israeli border during a military assessment, Walla reported on Wednesday. In response, the military has allocated intelligence resources and reserve forces, and clarified open-fire orders for senior commanders on the ground. The military assessment also discussed Hamas's efforts to prevent the distribution of food packages by an American company at three locations in Rafah. During the discussion, officials noted that tens of thousands of food packages have already been distributed to representatives of families of 50 people each. Each package is designed to last five days. Hamas has reportedly deployed armed operatives along pedestrian routes to intimidate civilians and prevent them from approaching the distribution centers. In some cases, according to the IDF spokesperson, Hamas terrorists fired live rounds at civilians to deter them. Despite this, residents have found ways to bypass the blockades—from the shelter areas to the distribution centers—in order to receive the food packages. At the same time, Hamas has been waging a psychological warfare campaign, spreading false information to discourage the public from accepting the aid. 'Hamas understands it is no longer the sole authority in Gaza,' a security official said. 'As time goes on, we'll refine the distribution sites to serve more people and establish additional sites.' The official declined to specify who is funding the packages brought into Israel. According to Southern Command estimates, more Palestinians are expected to head south to obtain food aid. The assessment also raised several extreme scenarios, including the possibility that Hamas would attempt to attack distribution centers using operatives without clear organizational ties. To mitigate such threats, the IDF has deployed reserve forces in the area. In addition, Walla has learned that UN officials in the Gaza Strip have refused for over a week to transfer 390 trucks from the Kerem Shalom crossing to the central Gaza Strip. A security source involved in the process said that Hamas is pressuring the UN not to cooperate, hoping to collapse the American company's distribution initiative in the south. Initially, UN officials cited legal difficulties in collecting and transporting the humanitarian aid, but according to the security source, the defense establishment believes these are merely excuses. At this stage, the American company has not set up distribution centers in the north or center of the Gaza Strip, in order to encourage residents to move to shelter areas in the south.
