Myanmar’s earthquake exposes junta’s failures as desperate families wait for help

[WORLD] For seven agonizing days, Hnin had waited for news. Her two girls, aged two and seven, her husband, and a domestic helper were all inside a six-story hotel in Mandalay, central Myanmar, when it fell.

Delays in search operations have exacerbated her misery. Hnin rushed around the devastated city, where communication lines were barely functioning, to buy head-torches and fuel for poorly equipped teams. A hotel manager refused to allow the use of a digger, fearing the building would collapse. Days passed before Chinese and Russian rescue teams arrived.

The delay in international aid has drawn criticism from humanitarian groups, who argue that bureaucratic hurdles imposed by Myanmar’s military junta have slowed critical relief efforts. Many local volunteers, lacking proper equipment, have resorted to digging through rubble with their bare hands. Meanwhile, the regime’s insistence on controlling aid distribution has further complicated rescue operations in areas hardest hit by the disaster.

“How can I sleep? When I wake in the middle of the night, I feel as if my tears have run out. I can’t cry any more,” said Hnin. She stands outside the building, yelling her husband's name and hoping for a response, while making offerings to spirits and praying for her family's safety.

Doctors at Mandalay General Hospital, located just a short drive away, have barely slept. Patients are being treated outside in the scorching heat since some facilities have been damaged. A medic reported that some people were suffering from heat stroke. There is a significant dearth of mobile toilets, and several patients and families have gotten skin illnesses as a result of poor sanitation.

The healthcare system, already strained by years of underfunding and the exodus of medical professionals following the 2021 coup, is now on the brink of collapse. Many hospitals in central Myanmar lack basic supplies, including painkillers and antibiotics. Doctors working in makeshift clinics report an alarming rise in infections, with children and the elderly most vulnerable in the absence of clean water and proper shelter.

People in central Myanmar's cities and towns continue to sleep outside, either because their homes have fallen or because they are scared to go inside. Some people have taken their stuff outside and are sleeping in tents marked with their apartment number. Aid has begun to come, but citizens, particularly those living outside of cities, complain that it is inadequate. Clean water, food, and medications are urgently required. Many people are still trapped beneath structures, with the odor of decaying carcasses spreading.

According to the military junta that administers the country, the earthquake killed 3,100 people. The full death toll and scale of destruction remain unknown. And across Myanmar, the immediate shock of the calamity is giving way to thoughts about how the country will rebuild.

The disaster has also exposed the junta’s failure to enforce building safety regulations, particularly in urban centers where rapid, unregulated construction was common even before the coup. Many of the collapsed structures were built with substandard materials, and corruption in permitting processes allowed unsafe buildings to proliferate. Now, survivors are left questioning whether reconstruction efforts will address these systemic issues or simply repeat the same mistakes.

Urban centers are likely to be virtually completely demolished and rebuilt. However, it is unclear how the country's battered and isolated military would afford to rebuild. According to analysts, doing so will cost billions of dollars, and it lacks access to foreign finance as well as the credibility required to win funding from the World Bank or Asian Development Bank.

It's also unknown how the earthquake would impact the country's conflict and political crises. Myanmar has been engulfed by a major revolt against junta rule since the generals took control in a coup in 2021. The military is largely despised by the populace, and it has lost control of large portions of the country's borders.

Some analysts suggest that the disaster could deepen public resentment toward the junta, particularly if relief efforts are seen as favoring military-affiliated elites while neglecting ordinary citizens. Others warn that the regime may exploit the crisis to tighten control, using emergency powers to suppress dissent under the guise of maintaining order. Already, there are reports of soldiers confiscating aid shipments meant for civilians in opposition-held territories.

Desperate to maintain control, it conducted airstrikes against its adversary for days, even after requesting international assistance. The military ultimately agreed to cease fighting until later this month, but many believe the bombardment will resume as soon as media attention shifts.

The largest cities damaged by Friday's earthquake are now under military administration. Some assume that the military's unusual request for foreign assistance was made because Naypyidaw, the junta's seat of power, was one of the hardest hit areas.

The capital, designed by the paranoid and secretive generals in the 2000s, was intended to be an impenetrable fortress. Its impressive structures include a presidential residence encircled by a moat.However, Friday's quake was destructive. Government employees' apartment has collapsed, trapping families.

The supreme court has collapsed, and ministry, parliament, and hospital buildings have been completely or partially damaged, as have pagodas. The palace's spiral staircase and chandelier were both damaged.

"There's no transparency," said John, a transport ministry employee, of the capital's mortality toll, requesting anonymity. "Most of the deaths were among family members, including elders, children and wives of government employees."

In the aftermath of the quake, the junta chief, Min Aung Hlaing, admitted that some buildings had been built "carelessly," but boasted that there was "absolutely no deviation, falling down" of the Great Maravijaya Buddha statue and its throne - a pagoda widely regarded as the leader's vanity project, as he tries to portray himself as a protector of Buddhism and is known to be highly superstitious. The degree of damage to military facilities in Naypyidaw is unknown.

According to commentators, the earthquake will surely have a negative impact on Min Aung Hlaing's ground forces' morale. Ye Myo Hein, a global fellow at the Wilson Center, believes that due to communication disruptions, many soldiers were unable to contact their family members, not just in Naypyidaw but also in other parts of the country that were severely damaged by the earthquake.

In the aftermath of the quake, the junta's propaganda machinery had been working tirelessly to raise morale, he noted, "portraying its soldiers as the nation's saviours".

On Friday, the UN Human Rights Office accused the military of restricting crucial help. Volunteers, the backbone of relief efforts, report that they are being blocked by soldiers, especially when trying to enter opposition or contested areas. Even in locations under military authority, such as Mandalay, soldiers have been conspicuously absent from rescue efforts.

It is probable that the military lacks the necessary manpower. "Most of the troops are tied down, desperately defending bases and territory across the country," said Richard Horsey, Crisis Group's senior consultant to Myanmar. Even when the military attempted to respond, its goals were frequently misguided, he explained.

The day following the earthquake, John was still needed to go to work in Naypyidaw to assist with a railroad construction project, despite the fact that his house had fallen and the entire city was in crisis. Min Aung Hlaing is "crazy about this train," according to John, who sleeps at his employment.

Others are in a worse position, especially in Sagaing where international aid is still yet to reach many.

"Out of the city's earthquake-hit areas, only about 30% of the population receives assistance," claimed U Nyo, 64, a storekeeper. "There is no one to assist in the suburbs and other locations beyond Sagaing. There is a high demand for food, drinking water, and medical aid."

His two-story family house was demolished, he claimed. His brother was reading upstairs when the entire home collapsed, tumbling from the top floor to the ground. Miraculously, the family survived.

During the day, they stay in their yard, following the shadows of the trees for protection from the harsh sun. At night, they sleep in a tent. "It's like the earthquake destroyed the lives of people in my city," U Nyo told the crowd. People were already struggling hard to survive even before the disaster.

Amidst the wreckage, one issue looms: who will pay for the communities' reconstruction? At least 20 towns and cities have been devastated, according to sources. Horsey speculated that China may grant money for specific projects, but that it was difficult to trust the regime with large quantities given the generals' inability to lead an emergency response effort.

For communities, this means a lengthy period of anarchy without enough infrastructure. The devastation inflicted on families will take even longer to heal, assuming it ever does.

Rescue workers transported remains on stretchers outside Mandalay's Great Wall hotel on Friday. Hnin is still waiting for news. "I can't articulate how I feel. My heart aches sharply,” she said. “They are my family.”