Agencies struggle to get aid to people in Myanmar

Human rights groups warn that the ruling junta is restricting the flow of aid to areas it doesn’t control.

Survivors are struggling with food, water, and medical shortages.

Fifteen-year-old Ko Thein, from Sagaing division in central Myanmar, the epicentre of Friday’s magnitude-7.7 earthquake, has been waiting for help that has yet to arrive.

His mother was killed before his eyes when their house collapsed.

“She was talking to me as I was waiting in the car and went to the door, but then the earthquake hit — it was so intense the building just fell on her,” he said.

Three days later, he remains in limbo.

“I just want to get my mother’s body out from under the building. That’s all I want,” he pleaded.

His father, severely injured, is in desperate need of medical care. But reaching a hospital in the closest major city of Mandalay remains impossible.

“We can’t get to Mandalay. The soldiers aren’t letting people through,” he said.

The earthquake has left critical infrastructure in ruins and killed more than 2,000 people.

Bridges, highways, airports, and railways are damaged, cutting off entire townships from aid and volunteers.

Myanmar’s ruling military, long known for its isolationist stance since seizing power in a 2021 coup, has signalled an unusual openness to international aid in response to the disaster.

But human rights groups and residents fear that aid is being selectively distributed, leaving crisis zones like Sagaing without help.

While Mandalay and Naypyidaw, Myanmar’s economic and political hubs, have received international attention, other areas like Sagaing and southern Shan state remain largely forgotten.

“The military has the resources, they have helicopters, trucks. But in the last three days, we haven’t seen any of that being used to help people in areas like Sagaing,” said Khin Ohmar of Progressive Voice, a human rights group monitoring aid efforts.

“Instead, they’re still bombing civilians.”

On Monday, local media reported that the junta bombed Naung Cho in northern Shan State.

The UN special rapporteur on Myanmar confirmed that at least three air strikes had hit the Sagaing region, a stronghold of anti-junta resistance, since the earthquake struck.

Human rights groups fear the military is using logistical challenges as an excuse for not getting aid to rebel-held areas.

“The concern is that they will claim certain regions are too difficult to reach when, in reality, aid denial is being used as a weapon,” said Khin Ohmar.

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