Myanmar junta accused of blocking aid for the victims of the earthquake while the air attacks continue | Myanmar

The Myanmar army is facing criticisms on the continuous air attacks and says that it is blocking aid to the survivors of earthquakes, since international agencies have urged “free access” to humanitarian aid in the nation rectified by conflicts.

The 7.7 magnitude earthquake Take the central Myanmar On Friday he caused a widespread destruction, killing more than 2,000 people and leaving areas affected in terrible needs of basic needs such as food and water.

Two doctors based in Australia that help to coordinate the response to emergencies at the epicenter of Mandalay and sagaing have accused the junta of blocking emergency aid supplies.

“Some of the supplies of aid, well, have not been given to the people who need it. In some areas of Mandalay the help has not arrived. The help was confiscated by the military junta,” said dr. Nang Win.

From the success of the earthquake, dr. Nang has communicated with the colleagues of Mandalay, where he says that the aids have been scarce and that improvised clinics are established in place of an adequate system for response to emergencies.

A medical colleague in the city, he said, had signed the documents to receive $ 1,000 in aid, but only received about $ 100, claiming that the skimmed supplies would probably end up in a black market in the event of a catastrophe.

“Then there is a market that happens and they have to go around and buy one,” he said.

From the Myanmar army seized power in a coup d’état of February 2021, it was an armed resistance movement made up of different ethnic groups blocked in a chaotic and fatal civil war. In the last year, the junta has constantly lost ground, checking less than 30% of the country’s territory, although it maintains control of the largest cities.

In the areas where the military do not have full control, the military blocked aid and preventing the rescuer teams from entering, said dr. Nang. “If a group of rescuers arrives and say that we want to enter, especially in sagaing, they will not allow you, they will say that you need a permit and once you have a permit it is too late,” he said.

A spokesman for the junta did not immediately respond to the statements.

Dr. Tun Aung Shwe, Australian doctor and representative of the national opposition government in exile of Myanmar (Nug), said that the military are taking advantage of checkpoint control to block medicine that flows towards the areas controlled by the nug and ethnic resistance groups.

“Outside the main cities, the military already control and then try to block the aid flow,” he added, adding that the local communities have been forced to look for alternative routes.

“They are finding other ways. So it is coming to us, but it takes longer.”

Emergency aid had been blocked in areas such as sagature and Mogwe, he said.

The statements come while the junta faces the criticisms for having conducted air attacks in the villages.

The National Union of Karen, one of the oldest ethnic armies of Myanmar, declared in a declaration that the junta “continues to carry out air attacks aimed at civil areas, even if the population suffers enormously from the earthquake”.

International agencies condemned the answer.

Tom Andrews, the United Nations special speaker on Myanmar, said that confirming what was happening on the ground was demanding due to the interruptions of communication, but that there were “constant reports of blocked help” and that the air attacks continued.

“Instead of focusing any ounce of energy, attention and resources on the rescue of lives, the junta is giving life. This is the first thing. Secondly, yesterday there were coherent reports of aid blocked, the aid that denied access to checkpoints,” he said.

These relationships were emerging from areas that are under the control of the opposition or disputed, he added, adding that the military should “stop killing people and focus on the rescue of people”.

On Monday evening air attacks were reported to Singu Township, in the Mandalay region, and to the city of Nownghkio, in the state of Shan.

“The military junta of Myanmar still invokes fear, even in the wake of a horrible natural disaster that killed and wounded thousands of people,” said Bryony Lau, Asian deputy director of Human Rights Watch.

“The junta must break from its frightening past practice and ensure that humanitarian aid quickly reach those whose lives are at risk in the areas affected by the earthquake.”

Scot Marciel, a retired American diplomat and ambassador to Myanmar since 2016-2020, said that the military had a bad track record when it was to provide assistance to its needy citizens.

“Myanmar has very poor infrastructures and where the military government, where to the extent that it controls things, (it) will not really raise your finger to help,” he said, “is really a bad place to happen”.

During the Covidid pandemic, he said, the military strongly limited the help, providing oxygen mainly only to his supporters. During the cyclone Nargis in 2008, a disaster that caused almost 140,000 lives, military leaders initially rejected all international aid.

“Their story shows that they are basically willing to stand and let a lot of suffering and even death occur, if not inflict it alone, rather than doing anything that can risk their position of power,” said Marciel.