Rescue efforts from Myanmar's deadly earthquake wind down as death toll
exceeds 3,500
[April 07, 2025]
BANGKOK (AP) — Long-shot efforts to find survivors from
Myanmar’s devastating March 28 earthquake were winding down Monday, as
rescue efforts were supplanted by increasing relief and recovery
activity, with the death toll from the disaster surpassing 3,500 and
still climbing.
In the capital, Naypyitaw, people cleared debris and collected wood from
their damaged houses under drizzling rain, and soldiers removed wreckage
at some Buddhist monasteries.
Myanmar Fire Services Department said Monday that rescue teams had
recovered 10 bodies from the rubble of a collapsed building in Mandalay,
Myanmar’s second biggest city.
It said international rescuers from Singapore, Malaysia and India had
returned to their countries after their work to find survivors was
considered completed. The number of rescue teams operating in the
residential areas of Naypyitaw has been steadily decreasing.
The 7.7 magnitude quake hit a wide swath of the country, causing
significant damage to six regions and states. The earthquake left many
areas without power, telephone or cell connections and damaged roads and
bridges, making the full extent of the devastation hard to assess.
Heavy rains and winds disrupted rescue and relief operations on Saturday
night and added to the misery of the homeless forced to sleep in the
open. The weather forecast for this week said scattered showers and
thunderstorms are possible across the country.
Myanmar’s military government and its battlefield opponents, meanwhile,
have been trading accusations over alleged violations of ceasefire
declarations each had declared to ease earthquake relief efforts.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the army’s 2021 takeover ousted the
elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, which led to nationwide peaceful
protests that escalated into armed resistance and what now amounts to
civil war.
Although the military government and its armed opponents declared
unilateral ceasefires for a temporary period, reports of continued
fighting are widespread, with the army coming in for special attention
for continuing aerial bombing, according to independent Myanmar media
and eyewitnesses.
Independent confirmation of fighting is difficult because of the
remoteness of the areas in which much of it takes place and restrictions
on journalists.
The Three Brotherhood Alliance, a trio of powerful ethnic minority
guerrilla armies, declared a unilateral temporary ceasefire on April 1,
following an earlier declaration by the opposition National Unity
Government, or NUG.
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People clean debris from damaged buildings in the aftermath of an
earthquake on March 28, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Monday, April 7,
2025. (AP Photo)
The NUG, which leads the pro-democracy resistance, said its armed
wing, the People’s Defense Force, would cease offensive actions for
two weeks.
On Wednesday night, the army announced a similar unilateral
ceasefire, as did another ethnic minority group among its foes, the
Kachin Independence Organization.
All sides reserved the right to act in self-defense.
The Ta’ang National Liberation Army, or TNLA, a member of the
powerful Three Brotherhood Alliance, charged in a Sunday statement
on the Telegram messaging platform that the military conducted
airstrikes, including dropping toxic gas bombs, on villages the
guerrilla group occupied last year in the northern part of Shan
state.
Another member of the alliance, the Arakan Army, fighting in the
western state of Rakhine, said Saturday night that the military
continued to launch daily counterattacks, aerial bombardments,
shelling and naval attacks against its troops in two townships in
Rakhine state, as well as in Ayeyarwady and Bago regions.
The group said it occupied a military base it had besieged on a
strategic hill in Bago a day after declaring its ceasefire, but
honored its terms by failing to attack the army's retreating
soldiers.
The shadow National Unity Government on Saturday accused the
military of carrying out 63 airstrikes and artillery attacks since
the earthquake, resulting in the deaths of 68 civilians, including
one child and 15 women.
However, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, a spokesperson for the military
government, said in an audio message to journalists on Saturday
night that the groups in the Three Brotherhood Alliance and the
Kachin Independence Army, as well as the Karen National Union in
southeastern Myanmar and pro-democracy forces in the central Magway
region and other groups violated the ceasefires by attacking the
army.
“We are carrying out relief and assistance efforts for the people
affected by the earthquake. I am saying this to make everyone aware
of the ceasefire violations at a time like this,” Zaw Min Tun said.
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