The Mianmar Military Government announced a temporary ceasefire in armed opposition groups to assist search and rescue efforts after Friday’s earthquake (28).
“The ceasefire will last until April 22, to demonstrate solidarity with the victims of the earthquake across the country, to provide an effective rescue operation and rehabilitation,” said MRTV, state channel.
More than 2,700 people died in Myanmar after the most fatal natural disaster to hit the country in recent years, according to the government. Hundreds of others are still missing, which means that the death toll should continue to increase.
Help agencies warned that the destruction caused by the 7.7 magnitude earthquake is leading to a medical crisis.
The Red Cross International Committee said on Tuesday (1) that people lost access to health care and drinking water.
Mikhael de Souza, field coordinator of the doctor without borders (MSF), said the lack of drinking water can give rise to disease.
Water, both in quantity and quality, is immensely missed throughout the country, and more specifically in the regions affected by the earthquake, ”said de Souza in a voice note on Wednesday (2).“ Lack of water is creating a problem in terms of immediate survival, but can also create a problem with epidemics in the future, which we definitely want to avoid. ”
Unit Hluttaw Anti-Regime Authority said over the weekend that bodies recovered from the rubble exceeded “a fetid odor that poses serious health risks.”
The country has also been involved in a civil war for four years, triggered by a bloody and economically destructive military coup, which made the joint forces to fight rebel groups across the country.
The coup and subsequent conflict devastated the health infrastructure, leaving the country poorly prepared to deal with large -scale natural disasters.
The Myanmar National Unit (Gun) government-an offshoot of legislators deposited in the coup-declared a temporary break in offensive military operations over the weekend, “except defensive actions”, to help with rescue operations after Friday’s earthquake. Gun said the break would last two weeks from March 30.
But Amnesty International reported on Tuesday that the military junta continued with air attacks in the following days to the earthquake, citing testimonials that obtained from people at the scene.
Large areas of the country are out of control of the military junta and are managed by a mixture of ethnic and militias rebels, which makes it extremely difficult to gather reliable information.
MRTV also reported on Wednesday that the president of the State Board of Directors, Min Aung Hlaing, will participate in a regional summit in Thailand from April 3 to 4 to discuss the response to the earthquake.
This content was originally published in Mianmar Military Government announces temporary ceasefire after earthquake on CNN Brazil.
Source: CNN Brasil
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