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Junta restrictions on aid activities following central Myanmar’s devastating 7.7 earthquake have driven some to postpone aid efforts, despite many communities being in critical need of support, volunteers told Radio Free Asia.
Junta authorities have been accused of blocking search and rescue teams and aid groups from entering affected areas in Sagaing and Mandalay regions, as well as Shan state, by using security checkpoints and strict registration requirements.
“They [aid groups] can’t do anything. We’re very upset that those who could help are being treated like this. Now, it’s just the public looking out for each other,” said an official from a volunteer group in Mandalay assisting in earthquake recovery, declining to be named for fear of reprisals.
“This isn’t working for us, so we want to say that we have stopped.”
Myanmar’s March 28 earthquake killed more than 3,600 people and injured another 5,000, with 148 people still missing, the junta said in a statement published on Tuesday evening.
The earthquake coincided with violent clashes between insurgent groups and junta battalions that escalated in the years following the 2021 coup, causing the military to implement stricter policies around growing insurgent hotspots nationwide.
Another Mandalay-based group said they were being blocked from working by regional authorities after the junta’s Deputy Chairperson Maj. Gen. Soe Win announced that aid organizations needed to submit requests for prior approval.
Charity organizations are also required to deliver basic supplies through regional junta authorities, the junta’s Ministry of Public Health said in a statement published on Sunday, to the criticism of volunteers.
“If they want us to give it under them like they said, we can’t give anything at all. We’ll only donate if we can do it ourselves,” said an official from another volunteer organization, declining to be named for fear of reprisals.
More than 10 aid groups across Sagaing and Mandalay regions and Shan state told RFA that they would be forced to temporarily stop their relief efforts.
One Mandalay resident raised his concern that junta actions may undermine aid groups and cause international organizations to rescind their support for earthquake victims if supplies can’t make it to affected areas.
“My house collapsed. If I go to the community center for basic items I need, I can’t get them like normal because the officers stole them,” he said.
“The government hasn’t been supporting us at all, and I don’t know if any more charity will continue to come from them.”
The junta has not released any additional information on the restrictions.
It said on Saturday that it would prevent groups from entering the country for “negative purposes by exploiting the earthquake.”
International groups have urged the junta to loosen restrictions on entering earthquake-stricken areas to allow greater distribution of aid.
RFA called junta spokesperson Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun for more information on the restrictions, but he did not answer by the time of publication.
Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by Taejun Kang.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Burmese.