Aftershocks and lack of resources hinder recovery work 3 weeks after Myanmar's deadly earthquake

BANGKOK (AP) — Basic services have yet to be restored to the areas of Myanmar worst hit by a huge earthquake three weeks ago, and emergency workers recovering bodies and clearing debris are contending with regular aftershocks and lack of resources, humanitarian services say.

A situation report issued late Friday by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, said frequent strong aftershocks continue to shake central Myanmar almost daily, increasing fear and uncertainty among affected residents, disrupting response effort s and exacerbating the pressure on already limited resources and services.

“Three weeks after catastrophic twin earthquakes hit Myanmar on 28 March, the worst-affected communities are still without safe shelter, clean water and sanitation, stable electricity, health care and essential services,” the report said.

The epicenter of the 7.7 magnitude quake was near Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, but it hit a wide swath of the country, causing significant damage to six regions and states including the capital, Naypyitaw.

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

A report in the state-run Myanma Alinn newspaper published on Saturday said the quake's death toll had reached 3,726, with 5,105 people injured and 129 still missing. It said 1,975 international rescuers and medical workers from 25 countries had collaborated with local rescuers in saving 653 people and recovering 753 bodies from under rubble.

Myanma Alinn said 65,096 houses and buildings, 2,514 schools, 4,317 Buddhist monasterial living quarters, 6,027 pagodas and temples, 350 hospitals and clinics, 170 bridges, 586 dams and 203 sections of the country’s main highway were damaged by the earthquake.

Myanmar Fire Services Department, an official emergency services agency operating in many areas of the country, said in statements posted Friday on its Facebook page that rescue workers were carrying out relief, search and cleaning debris from the big buildings, and had returned valuable jewelry, cash, and documents found among the rubble to their owners.

It also said that rescuers recovered two bodies from collapsed buildings in Mandalay.

An official from Myanmar Rescue Federation (Mandalay), which has been operating along with the firefighters, told The Associated Press on Friday that the priority three weeks on from the earthquake was to clear bodies and debris from under bigger buildings, while also providing assistance to the survivors affected by the earthquake.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he fears arrest for speaking without authorization, said the number of bodies recovered daily has decreased to only one or two.

Another emergency services worker in Mandalay, similarly speaking on condition of anonymity, said the number of rescue teams operating in Mandalay has been steadily decreasing as most of the international rescue teams had returned to their countries after their work to find survivors was considered completed. He said local rescue workers were mainly participating in clearing debris and providing assistance.

The United Nations Development Program earlier this month estimated that at least 2.5 million tons, or roughly 125,000 truckloads, of debris from the quake needs to be removed. It based its estimate on remote sensing analysis of images obtained by satellites.

UN-Habitat, the U.N. agency for human settlements, said in a statement on Friday that its staff and the Myanmar Engineering Society were collaborating in assessing widespread building damage in earthquake-affected regions.

In Naypyitaw, almost all rescuers have ceased their relief efforts, while government buildings that were damaged by the earthquake have not yet been repaired and remain in their post-earthquake condition, said a resident who asked not to be named for security reasons. In residential areas, people have almost completed clearing the debris on their own.

Saturday's report in Myanma Alinn said Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, head of the military government, told his Cabinet members during a meeting on Friday that the urban layout of Naypyitaw will be redesigned.

Naypyitaw became Myanmar’s capital in 2006 after being built at great expense almost from scratch next to what had once been a logging center inhabited by largely by farmers. It is notable for its grandiose government buildings and under-utilized multi-lane roads.

Rescuers clean debris from damaged roads in the aftermath of the March 28 earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo)

People clean debris from damaged buildings in the aftermath of an earthquake on March 28, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo)

People clean debris from damaged buildings in the aftermath of an earthquake on March 28, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo)

People clean debris from damaged buildings in the aftermath of an earthquake on March 28, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo)

People clean debris from damaged buildings in the aftermath of an earthquake on March 28, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo)

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — An Illinois landlord who killed a 6-year-old Muslim boy and severely injured the boy's mother in a brutal hate-crime attack days after the war in Gaza began was sentenced Friday to 53 years in prison.

Joseph Czuba, 73, was found guilty in February of murder, attempted murder and hate-crime charges in the death of Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of his mother, Hanan Shaheen.

Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak sentenced Czuba to 30 years in the boy's death and another 20 years consecutively for the attack on Shaheen. The judge also sentenced him to three years imprisonment for hate crimes. The length of the sentence makes it all but certain he will die behind bars.

Czuba did not speak during the sentencing. His attorney, George Lenard, didn't immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment.

The boy's great-uncle, Mohmoud Yousef, was the only family member who spoke during the hearing. He said that no matter the sentence length it wouldn't be enough. The boy's parents had plans for him and Czuba robbed them of that, he said.

Yousef asked Czuba to explain why he attacked the boy and his mother, asking him what news he heard that provoked him, but Czuba did not respond, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Czuba targeted them in October 2023 because of their Islamic faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas.

Evidence at trial included harrowing testimony from Shaheen and her frantic 911 call, along with bloody crime scene photos and police video. Jurors deliberated less than 90 minutes before handing in a verdict.

The family had been renting rooms in Czuba’s home in Plainfield, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) from Chicago when the attack happened.

Central to prosecutors' case was harrowing testimony from the boy’s mother, who said Czuba attacked her before moving on to her son, insisting they had to leave because they were Muslim. Prosecutors also played the 911 call and showed police footage. Czuba's wife, Mary, whom he has since divorced, also testified for the prosecution, saying he had become agitated about the Israel-Hamas war, which had erupted days earlier.

Police said Czuba pulled a knife from a holder on a belt and stabbed the boy 26 times, leaving the knife in the child's body. Some of the bloody crime scene photos were so explicit that the judge agreed to turn television screens showing them away from the audience, which included Wadee's relatives.

“He could not escape,” Michael Fitzgerald, a Will County assistant state’s attorney, told jurors at trial. “If it wasn’t enough that this defendant killed that little boy, he left the knife in the little boy’s body.”

The jury deliberated for 90 minutes before returning a verdict.

The attack renewed fears of anti-Muslim discrimination and hit particularly hard in Plainfield and surrounding suburbs, which have a large and established Palestinian community. Wadee's funeral drew large crowds and Plainfield officials have dedicated a park playground in his honor.

Shaheen had more than a dozen stab wounds and it took her weeks to recover.

She said there were no prior issues in the two years she rented from the Czubas, even sharing a kitchen and a living room. Then after the start of the war, Czuba told her that they had to move out because Muslims were not welcome. He later confronted Shaheen and attacked her, holding her down, stabbing her and trying to break her teeth.

“He told me ‘You, as a Muslim, must die,’” said Shaheen, who testified at trial in English and Arabic though a translator.

Police testified that officers found Czuba outside the house, sitting on the ground with blood on his body and hands.

Separately, lawsuits have been filed over the boy’s death, including by his father, Odai Alfayoumi, who is divorced from Shaheen and was not living with them. The U.S. Department of Justice also launched a federal hate crimes investigation.

Yousef told reporters after the hearing that Czuba was a grandfather figure to Wadee and the family doesn’t understand what “fake news” Czuba may have heard about the war in Gaza that caused him to attack the boy and his mother. People need to understand Muslims before judging them, he said.

“Some people are bringing this war to this country,” Yousef said. “We cannot do that. We can’t bring the war here. We cannot bring hatred to this country . . . we need that to stop.”

Odai Al Fayoumi, father of Wadee Al Fayoumi, who was murdered by Joseph Czuba in 2023, speaks to the media after the sentencing of Czuba outside the Will County Courthouse in Joliet, Ill., Friday, May 2, 2025. (Pat Nabong /Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

Will County Prosecutor Christopher Koch exits the Will County Courthouse after the sentencing of Joseph Czuba in Joliet, Ill., Friday, May 2, 2025. (Pat Nabong /Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

Odai Al Fayoumi, left, father of Wadee Al Fayoumi, who was murdered by Joseph Czuba in 2023, walks out of the Will County Courthouse after the sentencing of Czuba in Joliet, Ill., Friday, May 2, 2025. (Pat Nabong /Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

Odai Al Fayoumi, left, father of Wadee Al Fayoumi, who was murdered by Joseph Czuba in 2023, walks out of the Will County Courthouse after the sentencing of Czuba in Joliet, Ill., Friday, May 2, 2025. (Pat Nabong /Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

Mahmoud Yousef, grandfather of Wadee Al Fayoumi, who was murdered by Joseph Czuba in 2023, speaks to the media after the sentencing of outside the Will County Courthouse in Joliet, Ill., Friday, May 2, 2025. (Pat Nabong /Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

Mahmoud Yousef, grandfather of Wadee Al Fayoumi, who was murdered by Joseph Czuba in 2023, speaks to the media after the sentencing of Czuba outside the Will County Courthouse in Joliet, Ill., Friday, May 2, 2025. (Pat Nabong /Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

FILE - Wadee Alfayoumi's father, Oday Al Fayoume, seated right, and his uncle Mahmoud Yousef attend a vigil for Wadee at Prairie Activity and Recreation center in Plainfield, Ill., Oct. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

FILE - Joseph Czuba, 71, stands before Circuit Judge Dave Carlson for his arraignment at the Will County, Ill., courthouse, Oct. 30, 2023, in Joliet, Ill. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)