UN urges relief efforts in Myanmar as earthquake death toll rises

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UN urges relief efforts in Myanmar as earthquake death toll rises

2025-04-06 00:56 Last Updated At：01:03

BANGKOK (AP) — The death toll from last week’s massive earthquake in Myanmar rose to 3,455, state media said Saturday, as U.N. agencies and foreign aid donors ramped up their emergency relief efforts.

The 7.7 magnitude quake hit a wide swath of the country, causing significant damage to six regions and states including the capital Naypyitaw. The earthquake left many areas without power, telephone or cell connections and damaged roads and bridges, making the full extent of the devastation hard to assess.

It also worsened an already dire humanitarian crisis triggered by the country’s civil war that has internally displaced more than 3 million people and left nearly 20 million in need, according to the United Nations.

The military government’s leader, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, has said the earthquake was the second most powerful in the country’s recorded history after a magnitude 8 quake east of Mandalay in May 1912.

Min Aung Hlaing told Cabinet members Saturday that the quake’s death toll has reached 3,455, with 4,840 injured and 214 missing, according to a report on state television MRTV.

He said 5,223 buildings, 1,824 schools, 2,752 Buddhist monasterial living quarters, 4,817 pagodas and temples, 167 hospitals and clinics, 169 bridges, 198 dams and 184 sections of the country’s main highway were damaged by the earthquake.

Myanmar’s military seized power in 2021 from the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking armed resistance that is now believed by analysts to control more territory than the army.

Members of the U.N. Security Council “recognized the need to strengthen rescue, relief and recovery efforts and to scale up immediate and rapid humanitarian assistance in response to the requests to help the people of Myanmar, supported by the international community,” its president, Jérôme Bonnafont of France, said in a press statement Friday.

In an apparent reference to the fighting in Myanmar and concerns its military government would block or delay aid to areas under the control of resistance forces, the statement said the council's members “affirmed the importance of a safe and conducive environment to ensure the timely and effective delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance to all those in need, without disruption or discrimination.”

According to state media, Vice Senior Gen. Soe Win, the vice chairman of the ruling military council, said that any international organizations coming to Myanmar to provide assistance are required to seek prior permission from Myanmar’s authorities, and their efforts will be permitted only when they cooperate with relevant officials.

Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, spokesperson for the military government, told media on Saturday, as he arrived back from a regional summit held in Bangkok, that prime ministers and officials from attending countries, including India and Thailand, pledged to provide necessary assistance for relief efforts and rehabilitation in quake-hit areas.

“Everyone helped Myanmar that suffered from the earthquake. Everyone sympathized. Everyone understood. Everyone was willing to help. It can be seen everyone working together practically,” Zaw Min Tun said.

He said that 18 countries were providing assistance to affected areas, and more than 60 aircraft had flown in to transport rescuers and relief supplies.

The U.K. allocated a further 10 million pounds (about $12.8 million) to the ongoing humanitarian response, its embassy in Yangon said in a statement Saturday, bringing its total to up to 25 million pounds (about $32 million) in aid.

There has been an unusual flurry of diplomatic activity in the past few days around Myanmar, usually reluctant to engage with much of the world community.

Min Aung Hlaing and senior members of his government are shunned and sanctioned by many Western countries for their 2021 takeover and human rights abuses. His visit to the meeting in the Thai capital Bangkok was his first to a country other than his government’s main backers — China, Russia and Russian ally Belarus — since he attended another regional meeting in Indonesia in 2021.

Back in Myanmar on Saturday, Min Aung Hlaing received Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan, and Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa for discussions about relief assistance from fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and cooperation in health care in quake-affected areas.

Although reports of diplomatic activity focus on earthquake relief, there is awareness that the crisis in Myanmar cannot end until the war there stops, and the country’s neighbors have been leading efforts to find a path for peace, even though neither the military nor its foes have shown any serious effort to negotiate.

However, the military and several key armed resistance groups have all declared temporary ceasefires on Wednesday in the wake of the earthquake to facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid.

The U.N. Human Rights Office on Friday accused the military of continuing attacks, claiming there were more than 60 attacks after the earthquake, including 16 since the ceasefire.

The opposition's shadow National Unity Government, which leads resistance to army rule, accused the military Saturday of carrying out 63 airstrikes and artillery attacks since the earthquake, resulting in the deaths of 68 civilians, including one child and 15 women.

Number of dead in a roof collapse at a nightclub in Dominican Republic rises to 218

2025-04-10 21:13 Last Updated At：21:21

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — The number of dead in a roof collapse at an iconic nightclub in the Dominican Republic surged to 218 on Thursday, an official said.

Juan Manuel Méndez, director of the Center of Emergency Operations, said crews at the scene were still looking for victims and potential survivors, although no one has been found alive since Tuesday afternoon.

“We've practically combed through ground zero,” he said, adding that there's one very small area of rubble left that crews are focusing on. “This has been very difficult for us all.”

Doctors warned that some of the two dozen patients who remained hospitalized were still not in the clear, especially the eight who were in critical condition.

“If the trauma is too great, there's not a lot of time” left to save patients in that condition, said Health Minister Víctor Atallah.

He and other doctors said that injuries include fractures in the skull, femur and pelvis caused by slabs of cement falling on those attending a merengue concert at the Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo, where more than 200 were injured.

On Wednesday, dozens of people had anxiously searched for their loved ones, growing frustrated upon getting no answers after visiting hospitals and the country’s forensic institute. By Thursday, a lone family remained with no answers.

María Luisa Taveras told TV station Noticias SIN that she was still looking for her sister.

“We have gone everywhere they told us,” she said, her voice breaking.

Taveras said the family has spread out, with a relative stationed at each hospital and at the forensic institute.

The government said Wednesday night that it was moving to a recovery phase focused on finding bodies.

The legendary club was packed with musicians, professional athletes and government officials when dust began falling from the ceiling and into people’s drinks early Tuesday. Minutes later, the roof collapsed.

Victims include merengue icon Rubby Pérez, who had been singing to the crowd before the roof fell; former MLB players Octavio Dotel and Tony Enrique Blanco Cabrera; and Nelsy Cruz, the governor of the northwestern province of Montecristi whose brother is seven-time Major League Baseball All-Star Nelson Cruz.

Also killed was a retired United Nations official; saxophonist Luis Solís, who was playing onstage when the roof fell; New York-based fashion designer Martín Polanco; the son and daughter-in-law of the minister of public works; the brother of the vice minister of the Ministry of Youth; and three employees of Grupo Popular, a financial services company, including the president of AFP Popular Bank and his wife.

Randolfo Rijo Gómez, director of the country's 911 system, said it received more than 100 calls, with several of those made by people buried under the rubble. He noted that police arrived at the scene in 90 seconds, followed minutes later by first response units. In less than half an hour, 25 soldiers, seven fire brigades and 77 ambulances were activated, he said.

Crews used dogs and thermal cameras to search for victims, rescuing more than 180 survivors from the rubble, authorities said.

It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the roof to collapse, or when the Jet Set building was last inspected.

The government said late Wednesday that once the recovery phase ends, it will launch a thorough investigation.

The club issued a statement saying it was cooperating with authorities. A spokesperson for the family that owns the club told The Associated Press that she passed along questions about potential inspections.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Works referred questions to the mayor’s office. A spokesperson for the mayor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.