Man rescued from rubble in capital as civil war complicates relief efforts

Damaged pagoda is seen in the aftermath of Friday’s earthquake in Amarapura township, Mandalay

Rescue crews in Myanmar pulled a 26-year-old man out alive from the rubble of the capital city hotel where he worked early yesterday, but most teams were finding only bodies five days after a massive earthquake hit the country.

After using an endiscopic camera to pinpoint Naing Lin Tun’s location in the rubble and confirm that he was alive, the man was gingerly pulled through a hole jackhammered through a floor and loaded on to a gurney nearly 108 hours after he was trapped in the hotel where he worked.

Shirtless and covered in dust, Naing Lin Tun appeared weak but conscious in a video released by the local fire department, as he was fitted with an IV drip and taken away. State-run MRTV reported that the rescue in the city of Naypyitaw was carried out by a Turkish and local team and took more than nine hours.

The 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit midday Friday, toppling thousands of buildings, collapsing bridges and buckling roads. So far, over 2,800 people have been reported dead and another 4,521 injured but local reports suggest much higher figures.

The earthquake also rocked neighboring Thailand, causing the collapse of a high-rise building under construction in Bangkok. One body was removed from the rubble early Wednesday, raising the death total in Bangkok to 22 with 34 injured, primarily at the construction site.

Myanmar has been wracked by civil war and the earthquake is making a dire humanitarian crisis even worse, with more than 3 million people displaced from their homes and nearly 20 million in need even before it hit, according to the United Nations.

Attack on Chinese Red Cross convoy

The Three Brotherhood Alliance, one of a powerful group of militias that has taken a large swath of the country from the military, announced a unilateral one-month ceasefire on Tuesday to facilitate the humanitarian response. The shadow opposition National Unity Government had already called a ceasefire for its forces.

But attacks have continued since the quake. Most recently, an opposition militia belonging to the Brotherhood Alliance reported that the military fired on a relief convoy of nine Chinese Red Cross vehicles late Tuesday on a road in the northern part of Shan state near Ohn Ma Tee village.

The Ta’ang National Liberation Army said the Chinese Red Cross was bringing supplies to Mandalay and had reported its route to the military.

But Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, spokesman for the military regime, told state-run MRTV that the convoy had not notified authorities of its route ahead of time. While not mentioning the Red Cross, he said security forces had fired into the air to deter a convoy that refused to stop near Ohn Ma Tee village, the site of recent fighting with the TNLA.

Asked about he incident, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun did not comment on the attack, but said “relief supplies provided by the Red Cross Society of China to Myanmar have arrived in Myanmar and are on the way to Mandalay,” adding that “rescue personnel and supplies are safe.”

China is incredibly economically important to Myanmar, and also one of the military’s largest suppliers with weapons, along with Russia.

On Tuesday, Tom Andrews, a monitor on rights in Myanmar commissioned by the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council, said on X that military attacks must stop to facilitate aid.

“The focus in Myanmar must be on saving lives, not taking them,” he said.

More international aid heads to Myanmar

Countries have pledged millions in assistance to help Myanmar and humanitarian aid organizations with the monumental task ahead.

Australia on Wednesday said it was providing another $4.5 million, in addition to $1.25 million it had already committed, and had a rapid response team on the ground.

India has flown in aid and sent two Navy ships with supplies as well as providing some 200 rescue workers. Multiple other countries have sent teams, including 270 people from China, 212 from Russia and 122 from the United Arab Emirates.

A three-person team from the U.S. Agency for International Development arrived Tuesday to determine how best to respond given limited U.S. resources due to the slashing of the foreign aid budget and dismantling of the agency as an independent operation. Washington said on the weekend it would provide $2 million in emergency assistance.

Extent of devastation beyond major cities is still unclear

Most of the details so far have come from Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, which was near the epicenter of the earthquake, and the capital Naypyitaw, about 270 kilometers north of Mandalay. DAVID RISING, BANGKOK, MDt/AP