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The Independent
01-04-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
After the earthquake, Myanmar must now be saved from its ruthless military dictators
As the powerful aftershocks from the Myanmar earthquake were being felt around the country, the junta's air force was in action over the epicentre, conducting airstrikes against quake victims. Defenseless civilians, traumatised and trapped under rubble, were bombed from the skies, as were the first responders attempting to rescue them. With his fighter jets circling over central Myanmar, the Burmese dictator Min Aung Hlaing appeared on television to appeal for international aid. Targetting earthquake survivors ought to be a red line in anyone's book. It should also be a wake-up call for the UK delegation at the UN Security Council. It must now act to secure wider support for the relief effort. In such matters, it has form. In 2022, in response to mounting violence, the UK midwifed the only Security Council resolution on Myanmar in the UN's history. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office must again marshal its considerable diplomatic skills to persuade council members to sign up to a resolution imposing an extended humanitarian pause in the fighting, specifically prohibiting attacks by junta jets, helicopters, motored paragliders and drones. Far from leading the relief effort, Myanmar's military has sought to leverage military advantage at a time of national catastrophe. Ending this outrage should not be a difficult sell to the UN Security Council. The humanitarian pause should be an informal but binding agreement, not a formal ceasefire, which would serve to legitimise a junta widely rejected by the Burmese people as illegitimate. The National Unity Government, representing the ousted civilian administration, has already said its armed forces will begin a two-week pause in offensive military operations. In addition, the Security Council must demand unfettered humanitarian access, mindful of the near-total restrictions on international aid agencies imposed by the junta in the aftermath of Cyclone Mocha in 2023. Aid was used as a weapon of war against Rohingya victims of an ongoing genocide: shocking, but part of the junta's long track-record of weaponising humanitarian assistance. In 2008, when Cyclone Nargis killed 140,000 people, the junta restricted and then manipulated aid to consolidate its power. There were confirmed reports of generals putting their names on humanitarian shipments as part of a systematic campaign to fix the coming referendum on a new national constitution which gave the military massively enhanced powers. Cross-border aid is also essential, to the two-thirds of the country under non-junta control, areas where the generals impose tight restrictions on UN and other agencies. Already aid is flowing from Thailand, through local groups. This must be dramatically ramped up. On the Western border, an emergency corridor from Bangladesh through Rakhine State to Sagaing, the quake's epicentre, is an urgent humanitarian imperative. Key to the effectiveness of the local recovery response is the mobilisation of heavy rubble-clearing equipment, much of which is in private ownership, but which requires permission from the military to work with local rescue teams. As part of any conversations about humanitarian operations, the UN and international non-governmental organisations must demand an end to the system of permits for life-saving work. The Security Council must insist that aid reaches non-junta areas in compliance with the four humanitarian principles: humanity (on the basis of need), impartiality, neutrality and operational independence. These principles, which lie at the core of all humanitarian action, have been embraced by the UN General Assembly, and it would be inconsistent if Security Council members objected. As part of international monitoring, there must be specific protection for local humanitarian agencies delivering assistance in non-junta areas. Since the 2021 coup, well-developed networks of community volunteers and self-help groups have proliferated. Key to the relief effort is reestablishing internet and phone connections in all parts of the country, particularly where the junta has intentionally cut them down. Despite savage cuts in US and other national aid budgets, world leaders, including Donald Trump, have made clear that the situation in Myanmar is so desperate, they are prepared to commit scarce funds. Significantly, it is now widely accepted that the 'localisation of aid' – ramped up partnerships with local agencies – drastically reduces the cost of assistance and significantly increases efficiencies, potentially delivering billions in savings. Myanmar presents humanitarian actors with an opportunity to prove their cost effectiveness, and for local partners to put to good use their unprecedented reach into their communities. Our leaders also have an opportunity to demand demonstrable value for money on behalf of tax-payers. In the aftermath of the earthquake, emerging paradigms of aid delivery must be tested, opportunities grasped, trust in overseas assistance restored. But it all begins with robust Security Council action. A UN-backed humanitarian pause in the fighting is an essential first step.
BBC News
29-03-2025
- Business
- BBC News
ShelterBox workers to aid Myanmar earthquake victims
Workers from Cornwall-based international disaster relief charity ShelterBox are responding to an earthquake in Myanmar and Thailand, bosses say. The 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Myanmar on Friday has caused more than 1,600 deaths and led to the collapse of numerous which specialises in supporting people to rebuild lives after disaster or conflict, said a team would be flying out to Bangkok but its focus would be on Sanj Srikanthan said the charity had "a lot of work ahead" but it was "absolutely essential" to provide emergency shelter to keep people safe. 'Support crucial' He said: "We're sending an assessment team of four people to look at what's been happening, where are the needs, and how we get the aid to the affected population."There is a lot of trauma associated with an earthquake and people will be scared to sleep under a hard roof, and, of course, with our tents and tarpaulins, you can sleep out with just light protection in case there are aftershocks as well."Mr Srikanthan said difficulties in providing aid during a natural disaster included accessing those most affected and getting the funding to be able to charity said it had launched an emergency appeal as support was "crucial in making this response possible". ShelterBox said it previously worked in Myanmar after Cyclone Nargis in 2008, after conflict in 2013, and to the Rohingya crisis in said that, prior to the earthquake, the country already had the fifth highest number of people in need of humanitarian assistance across the world. Mr Srikanthan said: "The Myanmar people are incredibly resilient warm, welcoming; but they will be traumatised by this experience as any population will. "It will be a case of trying to help the people who have been hit by the earthquake, but also thinking about wider needs in the population as well, so it's a lot of work we have ahead of us."
