AID AGENCIES STRUGGLING
On Friday, a powerful 7.7-magnitude quake struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay.
Shortly after, Myanmar’s military chief Min Aung Hlaing made a rare call for international assistance.
But observers said disaster response in hard-hit areas has been hampered by various factors. These include a lack of access to aid and proper equipment, damaged roads and communications infrastructure, and the ongoing conflict.
“The earthquake has consequences in parts of the country that are not so easy to access, where control is disputed, and those areas are going to be harder to reach,” said Alexander Matheou, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ (IFRC) Asia Pacific director.
“The epicentre is reachable, but not all the people affected, I would imagine at this point, are seeing assistance.”
