Latest news with #MarcoluigiCorsi
American Military News
11-05-2025
- Politics
- American Military News
Myanmar quake death toll rises above 2,000, military junta says
This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission. The death toll from Myanmar's magnitude 7.7 earthquake rose to 2,056 people, the country's military junta announced Monday on state-run TV, as rescue workers searched for victims believed trapped under collapsed buildings. The junta, which took control of the country in a 2021 coup, said on state TV that 170 people were still missing and 3,900 people were injured. The shadow National Unity Government, made up of former civilian leaders, gave a higher death toll of 2,418. Near the epicenter of Friday's quake, in Mandalay, the country's second-biggest city, a 75-year-old grandmother and her two teenage granddaughters were pulled out alive from under their partially collapsed 11-story apartment building, residents told Radio Free Asia. While holding onto each other in the darkness, the girls, 16 and 13, used their cell phones to signal their location under the Sky Villa condominium. On Sunday, they were happily reunited with their families. The United Nations Office in Myanmar, meanwhile, issued a statement on Monday asking for unhindered access to earthquake-hit areas to deliver humanitarian aid. Myanmar, which is mired in a four-year civil war after the military overthrew the democratically-elected government in the coup, is poorly equipped to respond to the disaster. Even before this earthquake, nearly 20 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance, Marcoluigi Corsi, the U.N. resident and acting humanitarian coordinator for Myanmar, said in a statement. 'This latest tragedy compounds an already dire crisis and risks further eroding the resilience of communities already battered by conflict, displacement, and past disasters,' Corsi said. U.N. agencies and humanitarian partners have allocated an initial US$15 million to support the response and are deploying emergency medical teams, shelter materials and food aid. 'We have a significant presence in Mandalay and surrounding areas, and we are doing everything we can to reach people in need despite serious logistical challenges,' Corsi said. The U.N. said many survivors were suffering from 'fractures, open wounds and crush syndrome – all conditions that pose a high risk of infection.' In a daily humanitarian update, the U.N. recounted a tragedy at a private preschool which was in session during the earthquake in the Mandalay area. The classroom building collapsed, resulting in the deaths of 50 children and two teachers. In response to the earthquake, rescue teams from Russia, China, Belarus, India, Thailand, Vietnam, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, and Malaysia have been providing assistance. The United States, Australia, the United Kingdom and Bangladesh have sent financial aid and rescue supplies. The earthquake was centered near Mandalay in the middle of the country and caused severe destruction in Sagaing, Magway, Bago, Naypyidaw, Shan state and eastern Taungoo. The junta declared a seven-day period of national mourning until April 6 to remember those who lost their lives in the earthquake. Thai efforts continue Aftershocks were still being felt in the Burmese cities of Mandalay and Naypyidaw as well as the Thai capital of Bangkok — 1,000 kilometers from the epicenter — although no additional damage was reported. In Bangkok, multinational rescuers, including the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, used K-9 dogs and electronic sensors to detect signs of life in the rubble of a 30-story building. According to the rescue center at the site of the collapsed state audit office near Chatuchak Park, as of 8 a.m. on Monday, 76 people remained missing, 11 were confirmed dead with nine injured. A woman's body was brought out of the rubble mid-afternoon, bringing the death toll to 12. The search was continuing beyond the conventional 72-hour window for finding survivors, Bangkok Gov. Chadchart Sittipunt said, saying signs of life had been detected Monday morning. Thailand's labor ministry said it would give 1.73 million baht (US$51,000) to families for each of the construction workers – many foreign nationals – who died in the collapse.
Dubai Eye
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Dubai Eye
UN urges aid to Myanmar quake survivors before monsoons hit
United Nations officials who surveyed earthquake damage in Myanmar urged the global community to ramp up aid before the looming monsoon season worsens already catastrophic conditions, with the death toll at 2,719 and expected to surpass 3,000. Drinking water, hygiene, food, shelter and medicine are the most critical needs following extensive damage to buildings, roads and bridges, said Marcoluigi Corsi, acting humanitarian and resident coordinator following a two-day visit. "We remain, of course, deeply committed to reaching people in Myanmar who need aid," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said. "And we must act swiftly to provide relief before the upcoming monsoon season, which, of course, will even worsen this horrendous crisis." A civil war in Myanmar had displaced more than three million people long before the quake struck. UN Special Envoy for Myanmar Julie Bishop urged all sides to immediately cease fire, permit humanitarian access and ensure aid workers are safe. "Continuing military operations in disaster-affected areas risks further loss of life," she said in the statement. Aid groups in Myanmar warned that the window to find survivors was closing fast. Myanmar's military ruler Min Aung Hlaing said the death toll from Friday's 7.7 magnitude quake reached 2,719 as of Tuesday morning and was expected to surpass 3,000. Some 4,521 people were injured and 441 missing. "Among the missing, most are assumed to be dead. There is a narrow chance for them to remain alive," he said in a speech. The quake, which struck at lunchtime on Friday, was the strongest to hit the Southeast Asian country in more than a century. It toppled ancient pagodas and modern buildings alike and inflicted significant damage on Myanmar's second city Mandalay and Naypyitaw, the capital the previous junta purpose-built to be an impregnable fortress. UN agencies said hospitals were overwhelmed and rescue efforts hindered by infrastructure damage and the civil war. Rebels have accused the military of conducting airstrikes even after the quake and on Tuesday a major rebel alliance declared a unilateral ceasefire to help relief efforts. The earthquake was the latest in a succession of blows for the impoverished country of 53 million people following a 2021 coup that returned the military to power and devastated the economy after a decade of development and tentative democracy. Myanmar's military has been accused of widespread atrocities against civilians as it fought to quell a multi-pronged rebellion after the coup. It has dismissed the accusations as misinformation and says it is protecting the country from terrorists. In neighbouring Thailand, the death toll from the quake rose to 21 on Tuesday, with hundreds of buildings damaged. Rescuers kept searching for life in the rubble of a collapsed skyscraper under construction in the capital Bangkok, but acknowledged time was against them. COMMUNITIES FLATTENED The region has been hit by five more aftershocks. Julia Rees of the UN children's agency UNICEF said she witnessed entire communities in Myanmar that had been flattened, with immense destruction and psychological trauma. "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 life-saving response is closing." In the Mandalay area, 50 children and two teachers were killed when their preschool collapsed, the UN humanitarian agency said. In a rare survival story, a 63-year-old woman who was trapped for 91 hours was pulled from the rubble of a building in Naypyitaw on Tuesday in a joint rescue effort by the Myanmar fire department and teams from India, China and Russia. Myanmar's civil war has complicated efforts to reach those injured and made homeless, including tight controls over the internet and communication networks. The Three Brotherhood Alliance of three major rebel groups at war with the junta on Tuesday declared a unilateral one-month ceasefire, to allow urgent humanitarian efforts to "be carried out as swiftly and effectively as possible". In its nightly news bulletin on Tuesday, state-controlled MRTV quoted Min Aung Hlaing as saying the military had halted its offensives but unspecified ethnic minority armies were planning to exploit the disaster. "The military is aware they are gathering, training and preparing to attack," it said, quoting the general as saying at an event to raise funds for quake victims. "We consider it as attacking us and will respond accordingly."
Japan Times
01-04-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
U.N. urges aid to Myanmar quake survivors before monsoons hit as death toll nears 3,000
United Nations officials who surveyed earthquake damage in Myanmar urged the global community on Tuesday to ramp up aid before the looming monsoon season worsens already catastrophic conditions, with the death toll at 2,719 and expected to surpass 3,000. Drinking water, hygiene, food, shelter and medicine are the most critical needs following extensive damage to buildings, roads and bridges, said Marcoluigi Corsi, acting humanitarian and resident coordinator following a two-day visit. "We remain, of course, deeply committed to reaching people in Myanmar who need aid," U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said. "And we must act swiftly to provide relief before the upcoming monsoon season, which, of course, will even worsen this horrendous crisis." A civil war in Myanmar had displaced more than 3 million people long before the quake struck. U.N. Special Envoy for Myanmar Julie Bishop urged all sides to immediately cease fire, permit humanitarian access and ensure aid workers are safe. "Continuing military operations in disaster-affected areas risks further loss of life," she said in the statement. Aid groups in Myanmar warned that the window to find survivors was closing fast. Myanmar's military ruler, Min Aung Hlaing, said the death toll from Friday's 7.7 magnitude quake reached 2,719 as of Tuesday morning and was expected to surpass 3,000. Some 4,521 people were injured and 441 missing. "Among the missing, most are assumed to be dead. There is a narrow chance for them to remain alive," he said in a speech. The quake, which struck at lunchtime on Friday, was the strongest to hit the Southeast Asian country in more than a century. It toppled ancient pagodas and modern buildings alike and inflicted significant damage on Myanmar's second city Mandalay and Naypyitaw, the capital the previous junta purpose-built to be an impregnable fortress. U.N. agencies said hospitals were overwhelmed and rescue efforts hindered by infrastructure damage and the civil war. Rebels have accused the military of conducting airstrikes even after the quake and on Tuesday a major rebel alliance declared a unilateral ceasefire to help relief efforts. Buddhist monks stand on rubble as they clear up debris at the damaged Thahtay Kyaung Monastery in Mandalay on Monday, four days after a major earthquake struck central Myanmar. | AFP-JIJI The earthquake was the latest in a succession of blows for the impoverished country of 53 million people following a 2021 coup that returned the military to power and devastated the economy after a decade of development and tentative democracy. Myanmar's military has been accused of widespread atrocities against civilians as it fought to quell a multi-pronged rebellion after the coup. It has dismissed the accusations as misinformation and says it is protecting the country from terrorists. In neighboring Thailand, the death toll from the quake rose to 21 on Tuesday, with hundreds of buildings damaged. Rescuers kept searching for life in the rubble of a collapsed skyscraper under construction in the capital Bangkok, but acknowledged time was against them. The region has been hit by five more aftershocks. Julia Rees of the U.N. children's agency UNICEF said she witnessed entire communities in Myanmar that had been flattened, with immense destruction and psychological trauma. "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 life-saving response is closing." In the Mandalay area, 50 children and two teachers were killed when their preschool collapsed, the U.N. humanitarian agency said. In a rare survival story, a 63-year-old woman who was trapped for 91 hours was pulled from the rubble of a building in Naypyitaw on Tuesday in a joint rescue effort by the Myanmar fire department and teams from India, China and Russia. Myanmar's civil war has complicated efforts to reach those injured and made homeless, including tight controls over the internet and communication networks. The Three Brotherhood Alliance of three major rebel groups at war with the junta on Tuesday declared a unilateral one-month ceasefire, to allow urgent humanitarian efforts to "be carried out as swiftly and effectively as possible." In its nightly news bulletin on Tuesday, state-controlled MRTV quoted Min Aung Hlaing as saying the military had halted its offensives but unspecified ethnic minority armies were planning to exploit the disaster. "The military is aware they are gathering, training, and preparing to attack," it said, quoting the general as saying at an event to raise funds for quake victims. "We consider it as attacking us and will respond accordingly." A damaged building is seen after a strong earthquake, in Amarapura, Myanmar, on Tuesday. | REUTERS One rebel group, the Karen National Union, on Sunday said the junta had conducted airstrikes in the east of the country at a time when it should be prioritizing quake relief efforts. Amnesty International said it had received testimony corroborating reports of air strikes near areas where quake recovery efforts were focused. "You cannot ask for aid with one hand and bomb with the other," said Amnesty's Myanmar researcher Joe Freeman. It was unclear if Min Aung Hlaing would make a rare foreign trip this week to attend a regional summit in Bangkok as planned. Thailand on Tuesday said the general may attend by teleconference. In Bangkok, rescuers were still seeking signs of life in the ruins of an unfinished skyscraper that collapsed, aware that four days after the quake, chances had dimmed of finding survivors. Fourteen deaths have been confirmed at the site and seven elsewhere in the city. The government is investigating the collapse and initial tests showed some steel samples from the site were substandard. There were an estimated 70 bodies under the rubble and experts said 12 had been located using scanners, but access was blocked by large debris. "Maybe they can survive one week or two weeks, so we have to go on," Bangkok Gov. Chadchart Sittipunt said. "The experts still have hope."
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.
CBS News
01-04-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Myanmar earthquake death toll expected to exceed 3,000, but remarkable rescues still leave room for hope
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 2,000 people in the country, compounding a humanitarian crisis caused by a civil war. The leader of Myanmar's ruling military junta said on state television Tuesday that it was assumed the death toll would exceed 3,000, according to the Reuters news agency. General Min Aung Hlaing said there at least 441 people still missing after Friday's 7.7 magnitude quake. Any hope of finding survivors was dwindling quickly, the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned Tuesday. "The time window for critical search and rescue is narrowing," OCHA's Humanitarian Coordinator for Myanmar Marcoluigi Corsi told reporters in Geneva via video link from Yangon. "Shelter, clean water, medicine are in short supply. People in affected areas spent the night in the open because there is no electricity or running water." "The needs are massive, and they are rising by the hour," added 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." The World Health Organization said more than 10,000 buildings overall were known to have collapsed or been severely damaged in central and northwest Myanmar by the quake, which also rocked neighboring Thailand. In the Thai capital Bangkok, the temblor toppled a high-rise building that was under construction, burying dozens of workers. Two bodies were pulled from the rubble on Monday but dozens were still missing. Overall, there were 20 people killed and 34 injured in Bangkok, primarily at the construction site. The fact that the skyscraper was the only large building to topple in Bangkok during the quake has drawn serious questions. Over the weekend officials ordered an investigation to determine whether design flaws, poor materials or failures in the inspection process could have been to blame. 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. The fire department in Naypyitaw said the 63-year-old woman was pulled on Tuesday from out of the rubble of a building in the capital 91 hours after she was buried when it collapsed around her during the quake. Experts say the likelihood of finding survivors drops dramatically after 72 hours. Myanmar's fire department said 403 people had been rescued in the country's second largest city Mandalay, and 259 bodies had 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 were thought to still be buried in the rubble on Tuesday. 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. 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. Multiple countries have pledged millions in aid to assist Myanmar and humanitarian aid organizations with the monumental task ahead. U.N. agencies have raised the alarm about the shortage of drinking water, with concerns of cholera spreading. Many people were already lacking in basic medical care and standard vaccinations in Myanmar before the quake, and the destruction of water and sanitation infrastructure has raised the risk of disease outbreaks. "It is really dire - the most immediate need is water, it is super hot out pipes and septic tanks have broken," said Julia Rees, UNICEF's Deputy Representative, via the video link. Shelter is also a major problem, especially with the monsoon season looming. 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. 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 more than 100,000 deaths. Even once it did allow foreign assistance, it was with severe restrictions. In this case, however, the head of Myanmar's military government, Senior Gen. 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.
