Myanmar still in desperate need after quake Thailand says

BANGKOK - Quake-stricken Myanmar is still in desperate need of medical assistance, field hospitals and shelters, Thailand’s foreign minister said, stressing the importance of a coordinated regional relief effort and long-term support.

The 7.7 magnitude quake on March 28 was one of the strongest to hit Myanmar in a century, jolting a region that is home to 28 million people, toppling buildings, flattening communities and leaving many without food, water and shelter.

The military government said 3,645 people were killed in the quake, with 5,017 injured and another 148 missing. Nearly 49,000 houses and more than 2,100 government buildings were destroyed.

Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa and Malaysian counterpart Mohamad Hasan met Myanmar officials on April 5 in the quake-hit capital Naypyitaw and saw the scale of the devastation.

“What Myanmar needs is field hospitals,” Mr Maris said in an interview late on April 8. “Their existing hospitals can’t operate to their full capacity due to damage from the quake.”

There was also a need for temporary shelters, mosquito nets, food, water filters and clean water supplies, Mr Maris said, with fears rising about communicable diseases among those made homeless, compounded by the intense summer heat.

On April 9, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) thanked the more than 30 search-and-rescue teams from 13 countries that had been deployed to find survivors, some of which were now departing Myanmar.

“Their expertise was crucial in the immediate aftermath – helping locate survivors and support communities in their darkest hours,” Ocha said in a Facebook post.

The Chinese search-and-rescue team left Myanmar on April 9 having completed its mission, state news agency Xinhua reported.

A fifth batch of emergency aid supplies from China arrived on April 9 weighing 91 tonnes, it said, including 266 tents and thousands