Latest news with #JuliaRees
Boston Globe
01-04-2025
- General
- Boston Globe
Survivors still being found from Myanmar earthquake, but hopes begin to fade as deaths exceed 2,700
He said Friday's earthquake was the second most powerful in the country's recorded history after a magnitude 8 quake east of Mandalay in May 1912. The casualty figures are widely expected to rise. The earthquake hit a wide swath of the country, leaving many areas without power, telephone, or cell connections and damaging roads and bridges, making the full extent of the devastation hard to assess. Advertisement Most of the reports so far have come from Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city, which was near the epicenter of the earthquake, and Naypyitaw, the capital. 'The needs are massive, and they are rising by the hour,' said Julia Rees, UNICEF's deputy representative for Myanmar. Myanmar's fire department said 403 people have been rescued in Mandalay and 259 bodies have been found so far. In one incident, 50 Buddhist monks who were taking a religious exam in a monastery were killed when the building collapsed, and 150 more are thought to be buried in the rubble. Advertisement The World Health Organization said more than 10,000 buildings overall are known to have collapsed or been severely damaged by the quake. The earthquake also rocked neighboring Thailand, causing a high-rise building under construction to collapse and burying many workers. Two bodies were pulled from the rubble Monday and another was recovered Tuesday, but dozens were still missing. Overall, there were 21 people killed and 34 injured in Bangkok, primarily at the construction site. In Myanmar, search and rescue efforts across the affected area paused briefly at midday Tuesday as people stood for a minute in silent tribute to the dead. Foreign aid workers have been arriving slowly to help in the rescue efforts, but progress lagged due to a lack of heavy machinery in many places. In one site in Naypyitaw on Tuesday, workers formed a human chain, passing chunks of brick and concrete out hand-by-hand from the ruins of a collapsed building. The state Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported Tuesday that a team of Chinese rescuers saved four people the day before from the ruins of an apartment complex. They included a 5-year-old and a pregnant woman who had been trapped for more than 60 hours. It also reported that two teenagers were able to crawl out of the rubble of the same building using their cellphone flashlights to help guide them. Rescue workers were then able to use details from what they told them to locate their grandmother and sibling. International rescue teams from several countries are on the scene, including from Russia, China, India, the United Arab Emirates, and several Southeast Asian countries. Advertisement A small US Agency for International Development disaster assessment team arrived Tuesday to determine how best to respond given limited US resources due to the slashing of the foreign aid budget and dismantling of the agency as an independent operation. A US official said the three-person team had waited for visas before making the trip from neighboring Thailand following a weekend decision to provide $2 million in emergency assistance to Myanmar. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the team's arrival has not yet been publicly announced. Meantime, multiple countries have pledged millions in assistance to help Myanmar and humanitarian aid organizations with the monumental task ahead. Even before the earthquake, more than 3 million people had been displaced from their homes by Myanmar's brutal civil war, and nearly 20 million were in need, according to the UN. Many were already lacking in basic medical care and standard vaccinations, and the destruction of water and sanitation infrastructure by the earthquake and the movement of people into overcrowded shelters raises the risk of disease outbreaks, warned the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. 'Vulnerability to respiratory infections, skin diseases, vector-borne illnesses such as dengue fever, and vaccine-preventable diseases like measles is escalating,' OCHA said in its latest report. Shelter is also a major problem, especially with the monsoon season looming. Since the earthquake, many people have been sleeping outside, either because homes were destroyed or out of fear of aftershocks. Myanmar's military seized power in 2021 from the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking what has turned into significant armed resistance and a brutal civil war. Advertisement Government forces have lost control of much of Myanmar, and many places were dangerous or impossible for aid groups to reach even before the quake. Military attacks and those from some anti-military groups have not stopped in the aftermath of the earthquake, though the shadow opposition National Unity Government has called a unilateral ceasefire for its forces. The NUG, established by elected lawmakers who were ousted in 2021, called for the international community to ensure humanitarian aid is delivered directly to the earthquake victims, urging 'vigilance against any attempts by the military junta to divert or obstruct humanitarian assistance," saying that could have 'devastating consequences.' The cease-fire plan for the armed wing of the NUG, called the People's Defense Force, would have little effect on the battlefield, but could draw more international condemnation of continuing operations by the military, including air attacks reported by independent media. A second armed opposition group, a coalition of three powerful ethnic minority guerrilla armies called the Three Brotherhood Alliance, announced Tuesday that it would also implement a monthlong unilateral cease-fire. I
The National
01-04-2025
- General
- The National
Survivors pulled from Myanmar earthquake rubble after four days
A 63-year-old woman was pulled alive from the rubble of a building in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, on Tuesday, four days after a 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck the country, as the chances of finding other survivors dwindled. The earthquake has killed at least 2,719 people and 441 remain missing, the head of the country's military government, Senior Gen Min Aung Hlaing, said on Tuesday. It destroyed more than 10,000 buildings in Myanmar and was felt strongly in Thailand, where a high-rise construction project collapsed and 21 people died. The fire brigade in Myanmar's capital said the woman was successfully pulled from the rubble 91 hours after being buried, in a joint rescue with teams from India, China and Russia. Experts say the likelihood of finding survivors drops dramatically after 72 hours. The military government's official Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper also reported on Tuesday that a team of Chinese rescuers had saved four people the day before from the ruins of the Sky Villa, a large apartment complex that collapsed during the quake. They included a five-year-old and a pregnant woman who had been trapped for more than 60 hours. The same publication also reported that two teenagers crawled out of the rubble of the same building using their phone flashlights to help guide them. The rescue workers were able to use what they were told to locate their grandmother and a sibling. Rescue teams from countries including Russia, China, India, the United Arab Emirates, plus several South-East Asian countries are on the scene. The US embassy said an American team had been sent but hadn't yet arrived. Julia Rees, of the UN children's fund, who has just returned from one of the worst-affected areas near the epicentre in central Myanmar, said entire communities had been flattened, and that the destruction and psychological trauma were immense. "And yet, this crisis is still unfolding. The tremors are continuing. Search and rescue operations are ongoing. Bodies are still being pulled from the rubble," she said in a statement. "Let me be clear: the needs are massive, and they are rising by the hour. The window for a life-saving response is closing. The civil war in Myanmar, where the military seized power in a coup in 2021, has complicated rescue efforts. Amnesty International said the government is still conducting air strikes in areas affected by the earthquake. 'Myanmar's military, along with all other actors involved in earthquake relief efforts, must ensure that human rights principles are fully respected and that the humanitarian needs of survivors are the top priority,' Amnesty International's Myanmar researcher Joe Freeman said. 'You cannot ask for aid with one hand and bomb with the other. Carrying out air strikes and attacking civilians in the same region where the earthquake struck is inhumane and shows a blatant disregard for human rights.' - Agencies contributed to this report
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
UN warns of cholera as water, aid scarce post Myanmar quake
STORY: Patients lie on hospital beds out in the open in a makeshift ward at Mandalay hospital in quake-hit Myanmar. It's amid fresh concerns by the UN about a shortage of shelter, clean water and medicine as the war-torn country responds to the massive disaster. Friday's 7.7 magnitude earthquake was the strongest to strike the Southeast Asian country in more than a century. Over 2,700 have been confirmed dead and thousands more are injured. The UN's refugee agency, has identified the situation as a top-level humanitarian crisis and is mobilizing stocks like plastic sheets, sleeping material and mosquito nets. UN body OCHA's Humanitarian Coordinator Marcoluigi Corsi is on the ground in Yangon. 'The immediate needs of the affected communities, as in any, I would say, earthquake are becoming increasingly urgent. You have shelter, food, the clean water, and essential household items are all in short supply. Some people in the affected areas spent the night in the open.'' Critical infrastructure like roads and bridges are also severely damaged. The UN's refugee agency said it took teams 13 hours to reach Mandalay from Yangon, in what is normally an eight-hour journey. UNICEF's deputy representative Julia Rees, who is also in Yangon, said there is a shortage of drinking water and agencies are concerned about cholera spreading. 'It's really, really dire. I was in the communities on Saturday and the most immediate and important need is water. It is super, super hot out there. And communities don't have access to running water, and they don't have access to drinking water. /FLASH/ We need to be providing water that will last those households a couple of days and then come back to make sure that they have sufficient for their household needs until we can find a more sustainable option.' The World Health Organization said hospitals were overwhelmed and medical supplies and fuel were running out. Agencies In Myanmar have also raised funding concerns - urging countries to offer money so they can replenish stocks. Myanmar has been in turmoil since early 2021, when the military ousted an elected civilian government. A protest movement morphed into an armed rebellion against the junta and the widening conflict has displaced over 3.5 million people. :: Myanmar Fire Services Department However a rebel alliance on Tuesday declared a month-long unilateral ceasefire in its conflict with the ruling military to support an international humanitarian response to the disaster.
Arab News
01-04-2025
- General
- Arab News
Survivors still being found from Myanmar earthquake, but hopes begin to fade as deaths exceed 2,700
BANGKOK: Rescue workers saved a 63-year-old woman from the rubble of a building in Myanmar's capital on Tuesday, but hope was fading of finding many more survivors of the violent earthquake that killed more than 2,700 people, compounding a humanitarian crisis caused by a civil war. The fire department in Naypyitaw said the woman was successfully pulled from the rubble 91 hours after being buried when the building collapsed in the 7.7 magnitude earthquake that hit midday Friday. Experts say the likelihood of finding survivors drops dramatically after 72 hours. Death toll numbers forecast to increase The head of Myanmar's military government, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, told a forum for relief donations in Naypyitaw that 2,719 people have now been found dead, with 4,521 others injured and 441 missing, Myanmar's state MRTV television reported. He said that Friday's earthquake was the second most powerful in the country's recorded history after a magnitude 8 quake east of Mandalay in May 1912. The casualty figures are widely expected to rise, but the earthquake hit a wide swath of the country, leaving many areas without power, telephone or cell connections and damaging roads and bridges, making the full extent of the devastation hard to assess. Most of the reports so far have come from Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city, which was near the epicenter of the earthquake, and Naypyitaw. 'The needs are massive, and they are rising by the hour,' said Julia Rees, UNICEF's deputy representative for Myanmar. 'The window for lifesaving response is closing. Across the affected areas, families are facing acute shortages of clean water, food, and medical supplies.' Myanmar's fire department said that 403 people have been rescued in Mandalay and 259 bodies have been found so far. In one incident, 50 Buddhist monks who were taking a religious exam in a monastery were killed when the building collapsed, and 150 more are thought to be buried in the rubble. Structural damage is extensive The World Health Organization said that more than 10,000 buildings overall are known to have collapsed or been severely damaged by the quake.. The earthquake also rocked neighboring Thailand, causing a high-rise building under construction to collapse and burying many workers. Two bodies were pulled from the rubble on Monday and another was recovered Tuesday, but dozens were still missing. Overall, there were 21 people killed and 34 injured in Bangkok, primarily at the construction site. In Myanmar, search and rescue efforts across the affected area paused briefly at midday on Tuesday as people stood for a minute in silent tribute to the dead. Relief efforts moving at a sluggish pace Foreign aid workers have been arriving slowly to help in the rescue efforts, but progress lagged due to a lack of heavy machinery in many places. In one site in Naypyitaw on Tuesday, workers formed a human chain, passing chunks of brick and concrete out hand-by-hand from the ruins of a collapsed building. The state Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported Tuesday that a team of Chinese rescuers saved four people the day before from the ruins of the Sky Villa, a large apartment complex that collapsed during the quake. They included a 5-year-old and a pregnant woman who had been trapped for more than 60 hours. It also reported two teenagers were able to crawl out of the rubble of the same building to where rescue crews were working, using their cellphone flashlights to help guide them. The rescue workers were then able to use details from what they told them to locate their grandmother and sibling. International rescue teams from several countries are on the scene, including from Russia, China, India, the United Arab Emirates and several Southeast Asian countries. The US Embassy said an American team had been sent but hadn't yet arrived. Aid pledges pouring in as officials warn of disease outbreak risk Meantime, multiple countries have pledged millions in assistance to help Myanmar and humanitarian aid organizations with the monumental task ahead. Even before the earthquake, more than 3 million people had been displaced from their homes by Myanmar's brutal civil war, and nearly 20 million were in need, according to the UN Many were already lacking in basic medical care and standard vaccinations, and the destruction of water and sanitation infrastructure by the earthquake raises the risk of disease outbreaks, warned the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. 'The displacement of thousands into overcrowded shelters, coupled with the destruction of water and sanitation infrastructure, has significantly heightened the risk of communicable disease outbreaks,' OCHA said in its latest report. 'Vulnerability to respiratory infections, skin diseases, vector-borne illnesses such as dengue fever, and vaccine-preventable diseases like measles is escalating,' it added. The onset of monsoon season also a worry Shelter is also a major problem, especially with the monsoon season looming. Since the earthquake, many people have been sleeping outside, either because homes were destroyed or out of fear of aftershocks. Civil war complicates disaster relief Myanmar's military seized power in 2021 from the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking what has turned into significant armed resistance and a brutal civil war. Government forces have lost control of much of Myanmar, and many places were dangerous or impossible for aid groups to reach even before the quake. Military attacks and those from some anti-military groups have not stopped in the aftermath of the earthquake, though the shadow opposition National Unity Government has called a unilateral ceasefire for its forces. The NUG, established by elected lawmakers who were ousted in 2021, called for the international community to ensure humanitarian aid is delivered directly to the earthquake victims, urging 'vigilance against any attempts by the military junta to divert or obstruct humanitarian assistance.' 'Any obstruction to these efforts will have devastating consequences, not only due to the impact of the earthquake but also because of the junta's continued brutality, which actively hinders the delivery of lifesaving assistance,' the group said in a statement. The ceasefire plan for the armed wing of the NUG, called the People's Defense Force, would have little effect on the battlefield, but could draw more international condemnation of continuing operations by the military, including air attacks reported by independent media. A second armed opposition group, a coalition of three powerful ethnic minority guerrilla armies called the Three Brotherhood Alliance, announced Tuesday that it would also implement a monthlong unilateral ceasefire. However, Min Aung Hlaing seemed to reject implementing a ceasefire, saying in his speech on Tuesday that the military will continue to take necessary defensive measures against some ethnic armed groups that were currently not carrying out combat operations, but were conducting military training, which amounted to hostile action. It wasn't immediately clear whether the military has been impeding humanitarian aid. In the past, it initially refused to allow in foreign rescue teams or many emergency supplies after Cyclone Nargis in 2008, which resulted in well more than 100,000 deaths. Even once it did allow foreign assistance, it was with severe restrictions. In this case, however, Min Aung Hlaing pointedly said on the day of the earthquake that the country would accept outside help. Tom Andrews, a monitor on rights in Myanmar commissioned by the UN-backed Human Rights Council, said on X that to facilitate aid, military attacks must stop. 'The focus in Myanmar must be on saving lives, not taking them,' he said.
Los Angeles Times
01-04-2025
- General
- Los Angeles Times
Survivors from Myanmar earthquake still being found, but hopes begin to fade as deaths exceed 2,700
BANGKOK — Rescue workers saved a 63-year-old woman from the rubble of a building in Myanmar's capital on Tuesday, but hope was fading of finding many more survivors of the violent earthquake that killed more than 2,700 people, compounding a humanitarian crisis caused by a civil war. The fire department in Naypyidaw said the woman was successfully pulled from the rubble 91 hours after being buried when the building collapsed in the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that hit midday Friday. Experts say the likelihood of finding survivors drops dramatically after 72 hours. The head of Myanmar's military government, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, told a forum in Naypyidaw, that 2,719 people have now been found dead, with 4,521 others injured and 441 missing, Myanmar's Western News online portal reported. Those figures are widely expected to rise, but the earthquake hit a wide swath of the country, leaving many areas without power, telephone or cell connections and damaging roads and bridges, leaving the full extent of the devastation hard to assess. Most of the reports so far have come from Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city, which was near the epicenter of the earthquake, and Naypyidaw. 'The needs are massive, and they are rising by the hour,' said Julia Rees, UNICEF's deputy representative for Myanmar. 'The window for lifesaving response is closing. Across the affected areas, families are facing acute shortages of clean water, food and medical supplies.' Myanmar's fire department said that 403 people have been rescued in Mandalay and 259 bodies have been found so far. In one incident alone, 50 Buddhist monks who were taking a religious exam in a monastery were killed when the building collapsed and 150 more are thought to be buried in the rubble. The World Health Organization said that more than 10,000 buildings overall are known to have collapsed or been severely damaged in central and northwest Myanmar. The earthquake also rocked neighboring Thailand, causing a high-rise building under construction to collapse and burying many workers. Two bodies were pulled from the rubble on Monday and another was recovered Tuesday, but dozens were still missing. Overall, there were 21 people killed and 34 injured in Bangkok, primarily at the construction site. In Myanmar, search and rescue efforts across the affected area paused briefly at midday on Tuesday as people stood for a minute in silent tribute to the dead. Foreign aid workers have been arriving slowly to help in the rescue efforts, but progress was still slow with a lack of heavy machinery in many places. In one site in Naypyidaw on Tuesday, workers formed a human chain, passing chunks of brick and concrete out hand-by-hand from the ruins of a collapsed building. The Myanmar military government's official Global New Light of Myanmar reported Tuesday that a team of Chinese rescuers saved four people the day before from the ruins of the Sky Villa, a large apartment complex that collapsed during the quake. They included a 5-year-old and a pregnant woman who had been trapped for more than 60 hours. The same publication also reported two teenagers were able to crawl out of the rubble of the same building to where rescue crews were working, using their cellphone flashlights to help guide them. The rescue workers were then able to use details from what they told them to locate their grandmother and sibling. International rescue teams from several countries are on the scene, including from Russia, China, India, the United Arab Emirates and several Southeast Asian countries. The U.S. Embassy said an American team had been sent but hadn't yet arrived. Meantime, multiple countries have pledged millions in aid to assist Myanmar and humanitarian aid organizations with the monumental task ahead. Even before the earthquake, more than 3 million people had been displaced from their homes by Myanmar's brutal civil war, and nearly 20 million were in need, according to the U.N. Many were already lacking in basic medical care and standard vaccinations, and the destruction of water and sanitation infrastructure by the earthquake raises the risk of disease outbreaks, warned the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. 'The displacement of thousands into overcrowded shelters, coupled with the destruction of water and sanitation infrastructure, has significantly heightened the risk of communicable disease outbreaks,' OCHA said in its latest report. 'Vulnerability to respiratory infections, skin diseases, vector-borne illnesses such as dengue fever, and vaccine-preventable diseases like measles is escalating,' it added. Shelter is also a major problem, especially with the monsoon season looming. Since the earthquake, many people have been sleeping outside, either because homes were destroyed or out of fear of aftershocks. Myanmar's military seized power in 2021 from the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking what has turned into significant armed resistance and a brutal civil war. Government forces have lost control of much of Myanmar, and many places were dangerous or impossible for aid groups to reach even before the quake. Military attacks and those from some anti-military groups have not stopped in the aftermath of the earthquake, though the shadow opposition National Unity Government has called a unilateral ceasefire for its forces. The NUG, established by elected lawmakers who were ousted in 2021, called for the international community to ensure humanitarian aid is delivered directly to the earthquake victims, urging 'vigilance against any attempts by the military junta to divert or obstruct humanitarian assistance.' 'We are in a race against time to save lives,' the NUG said in a statement. 'Any obstruction to these efforts will have devastating consequences, not only due to the impact of the earthquake but also because of the junta's continued brutality, which actively hinders the delivery of lifesaving assistance.' It wasn't immediately clear whether the military has been impeding humanitarian aid. In the past, it initially refused to allow in foreign rescue teams or many emergency supplies after Cyclone Nargis in 2008, which resulted in well over 100,000 deaths. Even once it did allow foreign assistance, it was with severe restrictions. In this case, however, Min Aung Hlaing pointedly said on the day of the earthquake that the country would accept outside help. Tom Andrews, a monitor on rights in Myanmar commissioned by the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council, said on X that to facilitate aid, military attacks must stop. 'The focus in Myanmar must be on saving lives, not taking them,' he said. Rising writes for the Associated Press. Grant Peck and Jintamas Saksornchai in Bangkok and Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.
