Aid rushes into Myanmar after earthquake kills over 1 600 ravages cities

BANGKOK - The toll from Myanmar’s earthquake continued to rise on March 30, as foreign rescue teams rushed to help the impoverished country, where hospitals were overwhelmed and some communities scrambled to mount rescue efforts with limited resources.

The 7.7-magnitude quake on March 28, one of Myanmars strongest in a century, jolted the South-east Asian nation, leaving about 1,700 people dead, 3,400 injured and over 300 more missing, the military government said.

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing warned that the number of fatalities could go up, and his administration faced a challenging situation, state media reported, three days after he made a rare call for international assistance.

India, China and Thailand are among Myanmar’s neighbours that have sent relief aid and teams, along with Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Russia.

But residents in the cities of Mandalay and Sagaing reported that international aid had not arrived as concerns grew about a severe shortage of food, electricity and water.

“The destruction has been extensive, and humanitarian needs are growing by the hour,” the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in a statement.

The United States pledged US$2 million (S$2.7 million) in aid “through Myanmar-based humanitarian assistance organisations” and said in a statement that an emergency response team from USAid, which is undergoing massive cuts under the Trump administration, is deploying to Myanmar.

The devastation has piled more misery on Myanmar, already in chaos from a civil war that grew out of a nationwide uprising after a 2021 military coup ousted the elected government of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Critical infrastructure - including bridges, highways, airports and railways - across the country of 55 million lie damaged, slowing humanitarian efforts while the conflict that has battered the economy, displaced over 3.5 million people and debilitated