In an interview with Power360, Diogo Alcântara, UN Agency spokesman, reports how the country is a week after the 7.7 magnitude earthquake
A week after one of the strongest earthquakes that have ever reached Southeast Asia, Myanmar faces difficulties to rescue victims, welcome homelessness and start reconstruction of the affected areas. For UNHCU (High Commissioner for UN) in the country) in the country, Diogo Alcântara, the reduction of financing to the world sector in the world and armed conflicts in the region are challenges that impose themselves for the country’s recovery after the tragedy.
In an interview with Poder360Alcântara said that for acting for some time in the country with internally displaced people, victims of armed conflicts between rebel groups and the military government, UNHCR had a supply supplies for immediate relief enough to serve 25,000 people. This material, with hygiene and tent items, was sent from Yangon truck to Mandalay, a city most affected by the earthquake, about 620 km. The concern now, however, is to untie the actions of helping refugees.
“We had a great stock in the country, I won’t say it was small because of the conflict we already had. But now the other challenges are that the inventory was thought to the armed conflict, and the armed conflict, although there is a ceasefire of some parts now, the impacts of this conflict follow and humanitarian needs are growing,” he these.
For the spokesman, another difficulty is dealing with the trend of reducing international resources to humanitarian organizations. “When we look around the world, and this affects Myanmar, we have a reduction in financing for the wide humanitarian sector. Several countries have disprocied to humanitarian aid in their financing. So we work in a short blanket situation. You have less resources and have more needs, not only in Myanmar, but in the world,”, these.
The interview was recorded by video conferencing on Friday (4.ab.2025).
Watch (26min54s):
The magnitude 7.7 earthquake on the Richter scale took place on March 28, at 12:50 pm local time (9:30 am ahead of Brasília time). The epicenter was 17km from Mandalay, a city of about 1.5 million inhabitants, the 2nd largest in the country.
According to the United States Geological Service, the event took place at a depth of 10km. About 10 minutes later, there was a replica of the 6.4 earthquake and other more moderate tremors then. Because it was so close to the surface, the earthquake was considered more powerful. The earthquake was also felt in distant places such as Bagkok, Thailand, over 1,300 km, and in the southwest region of China.
The country has been since, after a blow. The local government controls television, radio media and local newspapers. Because of media dependence on the government, there are no means to verify the news regarding the country independently or compare with data from other journalistic vehicles.
According to a study by the British network BBCthe military controls only about 20% of Myanmar’s territory. The other regions are in dispute with local armed groups. Therefore, conflicts have intensified each year. Mandalay is one of the most dangerous regions. The consequence is that the country today has about 3.6 million internal displaced people, who are people affected by violence and, therefore, needed to leave their homes.
Since the earthquake, the country’s internet network is limited both by decision of the Military Junta, according to foreign media reports, and the impact of disaster on the country’s infrastructure.
According to Alcântara, the most up -to -date estimate is that the number of dead has already exceeded 3,000 and 40% Mandalay has been destroyed. The city’s airport, one of the main ones in the country, was completely closed for several days, but was reopened to commercial flights operated with small aircraft because part of the track was damaged.
Earthquake Sensation
On March 28, Alcântara had gone to the hospital for routine exams in Yangon, the largest city in the country and about 620 km from the epicenter. I had lunch at the scene at the time of the earthquake. He felt a small tremor, but was not important because seismic shakes are common in the region. He drove to the office in another part of the city. Upon arriving at the building, he saw that people left the place, but went up to the 11th floor, where the UNHCR office is.
“I live in Yangon. The impact here was definitely felt, but it was not very scary, in fact. My personal experience was not the most traumatic or exciting, so to say, and thankfully, right. reported. The 37 -year -old Brazilian has lived in the country for 2 years, with a short time when he lived in Afghanistan.
The spokesman said he only realized the magnitude of the tragedy upon arriving home and turning on the television to watch the news. He said that his UNHCP colleagues who live in Mandalay are sleeping in the agency’s office for fear of returning to their homes. The fear is that there are new seismic shaking or that the structures of the buildings are compromised.
“We are also talking about having a crisis of confidence, usually because of the replicas of the earthquake. So we have these colleagues that some are living in the office because they think they are safer than their home, others are living in a tent. To increase a layer of complexity, April is one of the warmer months in Mianmar, in the 40 degrees,” these.
For Alcântara, Myanmar’s future will continue to be challenging for a long time because the conflict between the military government and the rebellious groups tends to intensify and the reconstruction of the affected region’s infrastructure will take time. Currently, there are 20 million people who depend on humanitarian aid in the country of 54 million inhabitants.
