Myanmar: Urgent Humanitarian Needs Mount After Major Earthquakes - Press Conference | United Nations

Melissa Lee Hein, World Food Program (WFP) Head of Communications in Myanmar said that the needs in the country are “huge, and support is needed. That support includes an end to the conflict, free and unimpeded humanitarian access, and also the resources to meet the needs.” Addressing the press virtually today (01 Apr), Hein said “What we know is as of today, almost 3000 are dead and thousands more injured and missing, and the devastation is really alarming. Colleagues are reporting buildings turned to rubble, homes destroyed and significant and significant damage to road and bridges and other infrastructures. Electricity supplies are still down in many places and phone communication is patchy at best. And added to this the destruction of hospitals and a lack of clean water.” She highlighted, “Before the earthquake, the humanitarian needs in Myanmar were already huge. We know that 20 million people were in need of humanitarian support, 15 million facing food insecurity, and more than three and a half million people displaced by the conflict over the past four years. So, the earthquake on Friday has made a bad situation really so much worse. And while people are resilient, after years of conflict and successive disasters, many have little or nothing to fall back on.” She continued, “After the earthquake, a state of emergency was declared across six states and regions. Among the worst affected are Mandalay, Nay Pyi Taw, Shan and Sagaing. And what we're seeing is that the effect of the earthquake is largely concentrated in the northwest dry zone. And this is an area that was already suffering with chronic poverty, ongoing conflict and frequent displacement.” She said, “Just 48 hours after the earthquake hit, the World Food Program was delivering emergency food supplies to people in Nay Pyi Taw. That was on Sunday. On Monday, teams started to provide food and cash assistance in Shan and Sagaing. And today, distributions of emergency food from WFP started in Mandalay.” She also said, “People are sleeping outside. If they're lucky they have maybe a sheet or a tarp for cover and some have nothing. In one of the worst parts of the city, WFP team said that almost every house had been destroyed either by the earthquake or a major fire that followed in that area. So, people are anxious and afraid even if buildings are standing many don't want to return home for fear of collapse, aftershocks are still a regular occurrence.” Responding to the immediate health needs of the thousands of people injured in the strong earthquakes that rocked Myanmar, WFP has provided nearly 3 tons of medical supplies to hospitals in the worst hit Nay Pyi Taw and Mandalay. The supplies comprising of trauma kits and multipurpose tents have reached a 1000 bedded hospital in Nay Pyi Taw and is soon reaching the Mandalay General Hospital, the two main hospitals treating the injured in these areas. These supplies were rushed from the emergency stockpile in Yangon to the earthquake affected areas within 24 hours of two strong earthquakes of 7.7 magnitude and 6.4 magnitude hitting central Myanmar on Friday. Rescue operations are ongoing. Bago, Magway, Mandalay, Nay Pyi Taw, Shan South and East and Sagaing are among the worst hit. According to WFP, Hospitals are overwhelmed with thousands of injured in need of medical care. The supplies that reached the hospitals today comprised of multipurpose tents to also create space for the increasing number of injured; and trauma kits to treat severe wounds and fractures. WHO is preparing the second dispatch comprising of Inter-Agency Emergency Health Kits tomorrow morning, with each kit having supplies to treat 10 000 people for three months. WHO is providing operational support to the rapid response teams deployed in the hospitals of the affected areas. Preparations are on for WHO and partners to roll out a rapid needs assessment to better understand needs and gaps in the affected areas for a tailored response. The scale of deaths, injuries and damage to health facilities are not yet fully understood. The casualties are likely to be highest in urban areas of Mandalay, Sagaing and Nay Pyi Taw where the earthquakes caused largescale destruction of structures and building. As per initial reports, in Nay Pyi Taw some public and private health facilities including a large polyclinic have been damaged. Information from Sagaing is limited as electricity and communication is largely disrupted. WHO has reached out to the global Emergency Medical Teams Network to identify teams willing to be deployed with field hospitals in Myanmar. So far 26 EMTs have expressed interest. The situation in Myanmar is concerning in view of the huge demand on the already fragile healthcare in conflict-hit areas. Prior to these earthquake, 12.9 million people were estimated to be in need of humanitarian health interventions in Myanmar in 2025.


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