Myanmar declares ceasefire to facilitate quake relief

Bangkok, April 2: Myanmar’s ruling military declared a temporary ceasefire in the country’s civil war Wednesday to facilitate relief efforts following a 7.7 magnitude earthquake that has killed more than 2,800 people.
The announcement by the military’s high command was reported late Wednesday on state television MRTV, which said the truce would run until April 22 and was aimed at showing compassion for people affected by Friday’s quake.
The announcement followed unilateral temporary ceasefires announced by armed resistance groups opposed to military rule. Those groups must refrain from attacking the state, or regrouping, or else the military will take “necessary” measures, the army’s statement said.
Earlier Wednesday, rescuers pulled two men alive from the ruins of a hotel in Myanmar’s capital and a third from a guesthouse in another city, five days after the quake. But most teams were finding only bodies.
The quake hit midday Friday, toppling thousands of buildings, collapsing bridges and buckling roads. The death toll rose to 2,886 Wednesday, with another 4,639 injured, according to MRTV. Local reports suggest much higher figures.
The earthquake came amid civil war in Myanmar, making a dire humanitarian crisis even worse. More than 3 million people had been displaced from their homes and nearly 20 million were in need even before it hit, according to the United Nations.
Two of the major armed resistance forces fighting the military, which seized power in 2021 from the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, had announced ceasefires to facilitate the humanitarian response to the earthquake, though the military initially did not relent in its attacks.
Dramatic rescue in Myanmar capital
In the capital Naypyitaw, a team of Turkish and local rescue workers used an endoscopic camera to locate Naing Lin Tun on a lower floor of the damaged hotel where he worked. They pulled him gingerly through a hole jackhammered through a floor and loaded him on to a gurney nearly 108 hours after he was first trapped.
Shirtless and covered in dust, the 26-year-old appeared weak but conscious in a video released by the local fire department, as he was fitted with an IV drip and taken away. State-run MRTV reported later in the day another 26-year-old was saved from the same building, more than 121 hours after the quake struck.
Another man was rescued by a team of Malaysian and local crews from a collapsed home in the Sagaing township, near the epicentre of the earthquake close to Myanmar’s second largest city, Mandalay.
The earthquake also rocked neighbouring Thailand, causing the collapse of a high-rise building under construction in Bangkok. One body was removed from the rubble early Wednesday, raising the death total in Bangkok to 22 with 35 injured, primarily at the construction site.
Resistance groups have announced ceasefires
The Three Brotherhood Alliance, one of a powerful group of militias that has taken a large swath of the country from the military, announced a unilateral one-month ceasefire on Tuesday to facilitate the humanitarian response.
The shadow opposition National Unity Government founded by lawmakers ousted in 2021 had already called a ceasefire for its forces.
The announcements had put pressure on the military government to follow suit.
Claims of an attack on
Chinese Red Cross convoy
Before Wednesday’s ceasefire announcement, an opposition militia belonging to the Brotherhood Alliance reported that the military fired on a relief convoy of nine Chinese Red Cross vehicles late Tuesday in the northern part of Shan state near Ohn Ma Tee village.
The Ta’ang National Liberation Army said that the Chinese Red Cross was bringing supplies to Mandalay and had reported its route to the military.
But Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, spokesman for the military government, said that the convoy hadn’t notified authorities of its route ahead of time, MRTV reported. While not mentioning the Red Cross, he said that security forces had fired into the air to deter a convoy that refused to stop near Ohn Ma Tee village, the site of recent fighting with the TNLA.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun didn’t comment on the attack. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it was looking into the matter. (AP)