Earthquake Rescue and Response Hampered in Myanmar by Infrastructure Damage, Civil War
A 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit central Myanmar in the early afternoon of 28 March, causing widespread destruction to buildings and infrastructure.
The quake’s epicenter was only 17 kilometers (10.5 miles) from Myanmar’s second-largest city, Mandalay, which is home to 1.5 million people. A strong 6.4-magnitude aftershock followed just 12 minutes later, intensifying the destruction and complicating rescue efforts.
Tremors were felt across Myanmar, in the Thai capital Bangkok, and in China’s southwest Yunnan province. A high-rise building collapsed in Bangkok, resulting in at least 12 casualties so far.
Three days after the earthquake, rescue and recovery efforts continue. Early Monday morning, the military junta ruling Myanmar announced that more than 2,000 people were killed in the quake, with more than 3,900 injured and 270 people still missing. Hospitals have been destroyed, and remaining health infrastructure is overwhelmed.
Reporters on the ground noted that mosques, temples, residences, and preschools were reduced to rubble, killing many of the people inside. Mandalay airport was damaged, and at Myanmar’s capital—Naypyidaw—the airport control tower toppled. All commercial flights into the cities have been cancelled, PBS reported. Military transport aircraft have still been able to land nearby and transport aid and personnel into the area. Bridges connecting Mandalay and other parts of the country have collapsed, complicating emergency response.
The BBC reminded readers that “getting information out of the country is difficult, and Myanmar’s military leadership has a history of suppressing the scale of national disasters.”
This time, however, the junta is making a rare plea for public assistance, CNN reported. During four years of civil war, Myanmar has largely been shut off from the rest of the world, but Min Aung Hlaing, head of Myanmar’s military government, declared a state of emergency and issued an “open invitation to any organizations and nations willing to come and help the people in need within our country.”
A lack of heavy machinery slowed search and rescue efforts, and teams had to slowly look for survivors by hand in high temperatures that reached beyond 100 degrees Fahrenheit (40 Celsius), the Associated Press (AP) reported. Furthermore, a severe shortage of medical supplies, including trauma kits, blood bags, anesthetics, assistive devices, essential medicine, and tents to house health workers, is hampering rescue efforts.
International rescue teams from China, India, Russia, and several Southeast Asian countries are on the scene. Australia, Britain, the European Union, New Zealand, South Korea, and others have announced millions of dollars in aid. China pledged $14 million for Myanmar quake relief. U.S. President Donald Trump said the United States will help, but so far no known assistance has been sent to Myanmar, the AP noted. The cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) are hampering the typically fast American response to the disaster, according to The New York Times.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said it is mobilizing with other groups to respond to the earthquake, and $5 million has been allocated from a Central Emergency Response Fund for “life-saving assistance.”
As the death toll from Myanmar's worst earthquake in more than a century rose past 2,000, many people have taken to social media to plead with foreign governments to redirect aid into Sagaing, a rebel stronghold where residents say that over 80% of the town has been destroyed. nyti.ms/4iJ43wR
— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) March 31, 2025 at 9:40 AM
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More than 20 million people were already in need of humanitarian aid in Myanmar, and 3.5 million are internally displaced.
Myanmar's civil war began in 2021. Since then, almost 80 percent of the country has operated outside of junta control, instead being run by a patchwork of ethnic rebels and militia forces, according to CNN. This—along with damage to communication lines—will make it difficult to get a full picture of the earthquake’s effects and where to distribute aid.
The National Unity Government—which coordinates the struggle against the ruling junta—announced a unilateral partial ceasefire to facilitate earthquake relief efforts. The group’s armed wing, the People’s Defense Force, will implement a two-week pause in offensive military operations in earthquake-affected areas. The military junta, however, has not responded to calls for a ceasefire, the BBC reported.
In a statement on 30 March, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said that the humanitarian needs in Myanmar are growing by the hour.
“This is not just a disaster; it is a complex humanitarian crisis layered over existing vulnerabilities,” said IFRC Asia Pacific Director Alexander Matheou. “Myanmar continues to face internal displacement and food insecurity. This earthquake exacerbates an already fragile situation. The global community must step forward to support a bold and sustained response.”
Two weeks ago, I watched a Red Cross earthquake simulation in a classroom in Sagaing township in Myanmar. You can see the children in the picture below. They scrambled under tables at the sound of the siren and then left the room in an orderly fashion to an agreed safe zone -… pic.twitter.com/9BYoean1qd
— Alexander Matheou (@AJMatheou) March 30, 2025
