Myanmar resistance movement announces partial ceasefire to facilitate earthquake relief efforts

Myanmar's shadow National Unity Government, which coordinates the popular struggle against the ruling military, announced Saturday a unilateral partial ceasefire Saturday night to facilitate earthquake relief efforts.

An announcement said its armed wing, the People's Defense Force, will implement a two-week pause in offensive military operations starting 30 March, Sunday in earthquake-affected areas.

It said it would “collaborate with the UN and non-governmental organisations to ensure security, transportation, and the establishment of temporary rescue and medical camps,” in the areas it controls.

“We call on all ethnic groups and citizens to actively cooperate with the NUG and revolutionary forces in providing comprehensive emergency rescue and relief assistance to the earthquake victims,” the statement said.

The plan poses a sharp political challenge to the military, which has heavily restricted much needed aid efforts to the more than 3 million people displaced by war even before the earthquake.

Sympathisers of the resistance have urged that relief efforts incorporate aid freely transported to areas under the control of the National Unity Government.

There was no immediate comment by the military on the announcement, which was released shortly before midnight. Independent Myanmar media have reported that the military continued air attacks on resistance-held areas even in the wake of the earthquake.

There is precedent for major disasters to play a part in helping to restore peace to areas torn by conflict, most notably in Indonesia's Aceh province after it was devastated by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

However, there is little precedent for this in Myanmar, where military government's have kept up repression even in the wake of destructive cyclones.

Myanmar's ruling military said Saturday on state television that the confirmed death toll from the devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake rose to 1,644, as more bodies were pulled from the rubble of the scores of buildings that collapsed when it struck near the country's second-largest city.

The new total is a sharp rise compared to the 1,002 total announced just hours earlier, underlining the difficulty of confirming casualties over a widespread region and the likelihood that the numbers will continue to grow from Friday's quake. The number of injured increased to 3,408, while the missing figure rose to 139.

Rescue efforts were underway, especially in the major stricken cities of Mandalay, the country's No. 2 city, and Naypyitaw, the capital. But even though teams and equipment have been flown in from other nations, they are hindered by the airports in those cities being damaged and apparently unfit to land planes.

Myanmar's civil war makes movement around the country both difficult and dangerous, complicating relief efforts and raising fears that the death toll could still rise precipitously.

The earthquake struck midday Friday with an epicentre not far from Mandalay, followed by several aftershocks, including one measuring 6.4. It sent buildings in many areas toppling to the ground, buckled roads, caused bridges to collapse and burst a dam.

In Naypyidaw, crews worked Saturday to repair damaged roads, while electricity, phone and internet services remained down for most of the city. The earthquake brought down many buildings, including multiple units that housed government civil servants, but that section of the city was blocked off by authorities on Saturday.

More damage in Thailand

In neighbouring Thailand, the quake rocked the greater Bangkok area, home to around 17 million people, and other parts of the country.

Bangkok city authorities said the number of confirmed dead was now 10, nine at the site of the collapsed high-rise under construction near the capital's popular Chatuchak market, while 78 people were still unaccounted for. Rescue efforrs were continuing in the hope of finding additional survivors.

On Saturday, more heavy equipment was brought in to move the tons of rubble, but hope was fading among friends and family members of the missing that they would be found alive.

“I was praying that that they had survived but when I got here and saw the ruin — where could they be? In which corner? Are they still alive? I am still praying that all six are alive,” said 45-year-old Naruemol Thonglek, sobbing as she awaited news about her partner, who is from Myanmar, and five friends who worked at the site.

Thai authorities said the quake and aftershocks were felt in most of the country's provinces. Many places in the north reported damage to residential buildings, hospitals and temples, including in Chiang Mai, but the only casualties were reported in Bangkok

Myanmar sits on a major fault line

Earthquakes are rare in Bangkok, but relatively common in Myanmar. The country sits on the Sagaing Fault, a major north-south fault that separates the India plate and the Sunda plate.

Brian Baptie, a seismologist with the British Geological Survey, said that the quake caused intense ground shaking in an area where most of the population lives in buildings constructed of timber and unreinforced brick masonry.

“When you have a large earthquake in an area where there are over a million people, many of them living in vulnerable buildings, the consequences can often be disastrous," he said in a statement.

A natural disaster on top of a civil war

Myanmar's government said that blood was in high demand in the hardest-hit areas. In a country where prior governments sometimes have been slow to accept foreign aid, Min Aung Hlaing said that Myanmar was ready to accept outside assistance.

Myanmar's military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, and is now involved in a civil war with long-established militias and newly formed pro-democracy ones.

Military forces continued their attacks even after the quake, with three airstrikes in northern Kayin state, also called Karenni state, and southern Shan — both of which border Mandalay state, said Dave Eubank, a former US Army Special Forces soldier who founded the Free Burma Rangers, a humanitarian aid organisation that has provided assistance to both combatants and civilians in Myanmar since the 1990s.

Eubank told The Associated Press that in the area he was operating in, most villages have already been destroyed by the military so the earthquake had little impact.

In northern Shan, an airstrike on a rebel-controlled village just minutes after the earthquake killed seven militia members and damaged five buildings, including a school, Mai Rukow, editor of a Shan-based online media Shwe Phee Myay News Agency, told the AP.

Government forces have lost control of much of Myanmar, and many places are incredibly dangerous or simply impossible for aid groups to reach. More than 3 million people have been displaced by the fighting and nearly 20 million are in need, according to the United Nations.

Control tower at Myanmar airport collapsed

Satellite photos from Planet Labs PBC analyzed by the AP show the earthquake toppled the air traffic control tower at Naypyitaw International Airport as if sheered from its base.

Debris lay scattered from the top of the tower, which controlled all air traffic in the capital of Myanmar, the photos showed on Saturday.

Rescue groups head to Myanmar

China and Russia are the largest suppliers of weapons to Myanmar's military, and were among the first to step in with humanitarian aid.

China said it has sent more than 135 rescue personnel and experts along with supplies like medical kits and generators, and pledged around USD 13.8 million in emergency aid. Hong Kong sent a 51-member team to Myanmar.

Russia's Emergencies Ministry said it had flown in 120 rescuers and supplies, and the country's Health Ministry said Moscow had sent a medical team to Myanmar.

Other countries like India and South Korea are sending help, and the UN allocated USD 5 million to start relief efforts.

US President Donald Trump said Friday that Washington was going to help with the response, but some experts were concerned about this effort given his administration's deep cuts in foreign assistance.

Intensifying its efforts for aiding relief and rescue work in earthquake-hit Myanmar under 'Operation Brahma', India on Saturday despatched two naval ships to the neighbouring country while an 118-member army field hospital is being deployed to provide immediate medical medical assistance to the injured.

Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal in a briefing here also said that two more Indian naval ships would follow under this humanitarian assistance operation.

The first ship carrying 10 tonnes of relief material left in the early hours, while the second one on Saturday afternoon, and they are expected to reach off Yangon on 31 March, a senior officer of the Indian Navy said.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in multiple posts on X shared updates about the operation.

"@indiannavy ships INS Satpura & INS Savitri are carrying 40 tonnes of humanitarian aid and headed for the port of Yangon," he wrote on X in the afternoon.

Jaiswal, in response to a query on the number of aircraft deployed under the operation, said, one aircraft left early morning with two more sorties after that, and two aircraft are part of the field hospital unit that is expected to leave from Agra later on Saturday, he said in the special briefing held in the evening.

The Ministry of Defence in a statement in the evening said the 118-member team from the elite Shatrujeet Brigade Medical Responders, led by Lieutenant Colonel Jagneet Gill, is set take off to Myanmar shortly along with essential medical equipment and supplies.

"The Airborne Angels Task Force is trained and equipped to deliver advanced medical and surgical care in disaster-affected zones," it said.

As part of the operation, the Indian Army will establish a 60-bed Medical Treatment Centre to provide immediate care to those injured in the calamity. The facility will be capable of handling trauma cases, emergency surgeries, and essential medical services to support the local healthcare system, which has been severely strained by the disaster, the defence ministry said.

The external affairs minister later in another post on X in the evening, shared an update on the field hospital being deployed.

"#OperationBrahma A 118-member Indian Army Field Hospital unit is en route to Mandalay from Agra. The team will assist in providing first aid and emergency medical services to the people of Myanmar," the EAM wrote and also shared some photo.

Jaiswal said India's ambassador in Myanmar is currently in the capital Nay Pyi Taw to coordinate the relief efforts, adding that no casualty has been reported so far among the Indian community in Myanmar.

The MEA spokesperson said India has actively been playing the role of "first responder" in such situations during national disasters and natural calamities. He recalled the relief and assistance provided by India last year in the wake of Cyclone Yagi hitting Myanmar, and also underlined that the scale of damage due to the earthquake in that country is "quite extensive".

"Brahma is the God of creation. At a time when we are extending a helping hand to the Government of Myanmar, to the people of Myanmar to rebuild their country in the wake of the devastation, this particular name of the operation has a special resonance, a special meaning," the MEA spokesperson said.

The first aircraft carrying 15 tonnes of relief material took off at around 3 am this morning from Hindon Air Force base in Ghaziabad. It reached Yangon at around 8 AM India time, the Indian ambassador was there to receive the relief material, and thereafter, he handed it over to the chief minister of Yangon, he said. These material include tents, blankets, essential medicines, tarpaulins, sleeping bags, gensets, solar lamps, food packets and kitchen sets.

"Two aircraft with search and rescue personnel and equipment along with canines, one of them have left I understand, and the other is in process of leaving for Nay Pyi Taw... In short, there are 80 NDRF search and rescue team personnel, specialists, along with equipment and a canine squad, is also part of this team," he added.

They are expected to reach Nay Pyi Taw later on Saturday evening, the MEA said. The field hospital team will be landing in Nay Pyi Taw, and from there they will be taken to Mandalay area with the support and coordination of the Government of Myanmar, he said.

"Soon after the tragedy struck Myanmar, our PM conveyed his concerns and expressed that India was ready to provide all support, all possible support to Myanmar, to the people of Myanmar and the Government of Myanmar in this hour of crisis," Jaiswal said.

Today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and conveyed deepest condolences on behalf of the people and the Government of India for the loss of lives.

He also conveyed that "we stand in solidarity with the government and the people of Myanmar and that we would do our best to provide relief, rescue and whatever assistance required to deal with this calamity".

On the movement of the four naval ships, Jaiswal said the Indian Navy is in touch with their Myanmarese counterpart for smooth operation.

"Our embassy is very active. They are in touch with Indian community organisations...So far, no casualty has been reported among the Indian nationals, and we are in touch with Indian community organisations for their welfare and safety," he said, adding there is a large Indian diaspora in Myanmar.

Asked about India's message with New Delhi responding swiftly in the wake of the calamity in Myanmar, Jaiswal said India has been the "first responder" to such disasters and calamities in the past and recalled 'Operation Dost' it had launched in 2023 after the devastating quake in Turkiye and Syria.

"It is part of our policy to be the first responder. When we say Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, we also mean it, and we want to prove it by action. And, we are humbled...to extend support to Myanmar in this situation," he said.

NDRF Deputy Inspector General (Operations) Mohsen Shahedi told reporters during the press conference organised by the external affairs ministry that the next 24-48 hours were "very crucial" for the force to get "gainfully engaged" and for their "active involvement" on the ground.

A senior official of the Army said, the field hospital being deployed had also taken part in 'Operation Dost', and other field hospital units are also on st