Myanmar’s junta chief to head to Bangkok summit as quake toll surpasses 3,000

Join our Whatsapp channel

The head of Myanmar’s junta is expected to travel to Bangkok on Thursday for a regional summit, as the death toll from his country’s devastating earthquake passed 3,000.

Min Aung Hlaing will join a BIMSTEC gathering — the seven littoral nations of the Bay of Bengal — where he will raise the response to Friday’s 7.7-magnitude quake that has flattened buildings across the country.

Many nations have sent aid and teams of rescue workers to Myanmar since the quake, but heavily damaged infrastructure and patchy communications — as well as the country’s rumbling civil war — have hampered efforts.

Myanmar has been engulfed in a brutal multi-sided conflict since 2021, when Min Aung Hlaing’s military wrested power from the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

A monk walks past vehicles on the edge of a large crack in the ground along Myo Patt Road linking Mandalay and Sagaing Township on the outskirts of Mandalay on April 2, five days after a major earthquake struck central Myanmar. — AFP

Following reports of sporadic clashes even after the recent earthquake, the junta on Wednesday joined its opponents in calling a temporary halt to hostilities to allow relief to be delivered.

AFP journalists saw hectic scenes on Wednesday in the city of Sagaing — less than 15 kilometres from the epicentre — as hundreds of desperate people lined up for the distribution of emergency supplies.

Roads leading to the city were packed with traffic on Thursday, many of the vehicles part of aid convoys organised by civilian volunteers and adorned with banners saying where they had been sent from across Myanmar.

Destruction in Sagaing is widespread, with the World Health Organization (WHO) reporting that one in three houses have collapsed.

Nearly a week after the quake, locals have complained of a lack of help.

“We have a well for drinking water, but we have no fuel for the water pump,” Aye Thikar told AFP.

“We also don’t know how long we will be without electricity,” she said.

The 63-year-old nun has been helping distribute relief funds to those left without basic amenities by Friday’s quake.

But many people are still in need of mosquito nets and blankets, forced to sleep outside by the tremors that either destroyed their homes or severely damaged them.

“People passing by on the road have generously donated water and food to us. We rely solely on their kindness,” she said.

Eyes on summit

All the main leaders from the seven members of the BIMSTEC — Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand — are expected to attend the Bangkok summit.

Host country Thailand has proposed that the leaders issue a joint statement on the impact of the disaster when they meet on Friday — a week on from the day the quake struck.

Min Aung Hlaing’s attendance is something of a diplomatic coup for Myanmar’s isolated government, as the summit breaks with a regional policy of not inviting junta leaders to major events.

His expected arrival in the Thai capital comes as the death toll from last week’s earthquake surpasses 3,000 people, according to junta figures.

A statement from a junta spokesperson said Thursday that 3,085 deaths had been confirmed, with 341 people still missing and 4,715 injured.

Rescue and aid workers had arrived from 17 countries, Zaw Min Tun added, with nearly 1,000 tonnes of supplies and relief materials.

“We have been continuing search and rescue work, we would like to express special gratitude for the hard work of the international community and medical teams,” he said.

Bangkok, hundreds of kilometres from the epicentre of the quake, also suffered isolated damage.

The death toll in the city has risen to 22, with more than 70 still unaccounted for at the site of a building collapse.

A 30-storey skyscraper — under construction at the time — was reduced to a pile of rubble in a matter of seconds when the tremors hit, trapping dozens of workers.

Rescuers are still scouring the immense pile of debris, but the likelihood of finding more survivors is diminishing.

Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt said in a Thursday morning livestream that he was “hoping for a miracle, but don’t expect too much as there’s a high chance of disappointment too”.