NAYPYIDAW: Malaysia dan Thailand mengadakan pertemuan dengan Pengerusi Majlis Pentadbiran Negara (SAC) Myanmar, Jeneral Kanan Min Aung Hlaing, hari ini.

Ia sempena lawatan rasmi sehari dalam misi kemanusiaan diketuai kedua-dua negara ke Myanmar yang dilanda gempa bumi pada 28 Mac lalu.

Menteri Luar Malaysia, Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, dan rakan sejawat dari Thailand, Maris Sangiampongsa, mewakili negara masing-masing pada pertemuan berlangsung di Sin Phyu Taw Hall, di sini.

Usai sesi pertemuan itu, Mohamad dan Moris turut mengadakan pertemuan dengan Menteri Luar Myanmar, U Than Shwe, di pekarangan kementerian berkenaan di ibu kota.

U Than Shwe sempat menunjukkan sebahagian bangunan kementerian yang runtuh dan rosak akibat bencana alam itu, kepada Mohamad dan Maris ketika sesi pertemuan mereka.

Semalam, Kementerian Luar Malaysia memaklumkan lawatan itu menzahirkan komitmen dan kepimpinan proaktif Malaysia selaku Pengerusi ASEAN tahun ini, untuk menyokong serta membantu Myanmar dalam usaha pemulihan pascagempa bumi.

Mohamad turut mengetengahkan usaha tindak balas bencana yang dikoordinasikan ASEAN dan sumbangan Malaysia, setakat ini, termasuk penugasan Pasukan Mencari dan Menyelamat Khas Malaysia (SMART) serta penghantaran bantuan kemanusiaan.

Pada 30 Mac lalu, Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, berkata Kerajaan Malaysia menyalurkan bantuan kemanusiaan RM10 juta sebagai permulaan kepada Myanmar yang terkesan akibat tragedi bencana alam itu.

Pada hari sama, Malaysia menghantar dua pesawat A400M milik Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia (TUDM) yang membawa anggota SMART dengan turut disertai pasukan bawah Agensi Pengurusan Bencana Negara (NADMA) ke Myanmar bagi operasi mencari dan menyelamat (SAR).

Gempa bumi kuat bermagnitud 7.7 itu meragut sekurang-kurang 3,145 nyawa, selain 4,589 mangsa cedera dan 221 lagi masih hilang.

Selain itu, ia mengakibatkan kemusnahan teruk di beberapa kawasan termasuk Mandalay, Bago, Magway, timur laut negeri Shan, Sagaing dan Naypyidaw, selain turut menjejaskan Thailand.

NEW DELHI: India's navy today delivered hundreds of tonnes of food aid to earthquake-hit Myanmar, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met reclusive junta chief Min Aung Hlaing.

India was among the first countries to rush aid and rescue teams to its war-torn neighbour after a devastating 7.7-magnitude quake on March 28.

The death toll from the earthquake has risen to more than 3,300, Myanmar state media said today.

More than one week after the disaster, desperate survivors remain without enough food and shelter.

The latest aid from India comprised 442 tonnes of food including rice, cooking oil, noodles and biscuits, the Indian embassy in Yangon said.

The consignment arrived via an Indian navy ship, INS Gharial, at Thilawa port.

Modi held a rare face-to-face meeting on Friday with Min Aung Hlaing on the sidelines of the Bangkok BIMSTEC meeting – the grouping of the seven nations on the Bay of Bengal.

"India is doing whatever is possible to assist our sisters and brothers of Myanmar in this critical time," Modi was quoted as saying in a government statement on Friday.

India's foreign ministry said that Modi told the junta chief that there was "no military solution to the conflict", and stressed the "importance of early restoration of a democratic process through inclusive and credible elections."

Min Aung Hlaing's armed forces have ruled Myanmar since a 2021 coup, when they wrested power from the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking a multi-sided conflict.

The junta leader had issued a rare appeal for international aid following the earthquake, indicating the severity of the crisis.

Previous military regimes in the country have shunned foreign assistance even after major natural disasters.

Sri Lanka also sent a medical team and a plane loaded with supplies, many funded by donations from Buddhist temples, to Myanmar, a defence official said.

Colombo has pledged more than US$1 million (RM4.4 million) to help quake victims in the fellow Buddhist nation. - AFP

BANGKOK (Reuters): The United Nations called for the world to rally behind quake-hit Myanmar on Saturday as the death toll rose to 3,354, while a former USAID official said a US aid team had received notice they were losing their jobs after arriving in the disaster zone.

In addition to those killed by the March 28 earthquake, 4,850 people were injured and another 220 are missing, state media said.

"The destruction is staggering. Lives lost. Homes destroyed. Livelihoods shattered. But the resilience is incredible," he said in a post on X. "The world must rally behind the people of Myanmar."

Myanmar's neighbours, such as China, India and Southeast Asian nations, are among those that dispatched relief supplies and rescuers to aid the recovery effort in quake-hit areas that are home to about 28 million people over the past week.

The United States, which was until recently the world's top humanitarian donor, had pledged at least $9 million to Myanmar to support earthquake-affected communities, but current and former U.S. officials say the dismantling of its foreign aid program has affected its response.

Three U.S. Agency for International Development workers who had travelled to Myanmar after the quake were told they were being let go, Marcia Wong, a former senior USAID official, told Reuters.

"This team is working incredibly hard, focussed on getting humanitarian aid to those in need. To get news of your imminent termination - how can that not be demoralising?" said Wong.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Friday the junta was restricting aid supplies to quake-hit areas where communities did not back its rule. 

The UN office also said it was investigating 53 reported attacks by the junta against opponents, including air strikes, of which 16 were after the ceasefire was declared on Wednesday.

A junta spokesman did not respond to calls seeking comment.

Free Burma Rangers, a relief group, told Reuters on Saturday that the military had dropped bombs in Karenni and southern Shan states on Thursday and Friday despite the ceasefire announcement, killing at least five people.

The victims included civilians, according to the group's founder, David Eubank, who said there had been at least seven such military attacks since the ceasefire.

ELECTION PLANS

The leader of the military government, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, reaffirmed to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi the junta's plans to hold "free and fair" elections in December when the two met in Bangkok, Myanmar state media said on Saturday.

Min Aung Hlaing made the rare trip to attend a summit of South and Southeast Asian nations on Friday, where he also met separately with the leaders of Thailand, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka.

Modi called for the post-quake ceasefire in Myanmar's civil war to be made permanent, and said the elections needed to be "inclusive and credible", an Indian foreign affairs spokesperson said on Friday.

Critics have derided the planned election as a sham to keep the generals in power through proxies.

Since overthrowing the government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, the military has struggled to run Myanmar, leaving the economy and basic services, including healthcare, in tatters, a situation exacerbated by the earthquake.

The civil war that followed the coup has displaced more than 3 million people, with widespread food insecurity and more than a third of the population in need of humanitarian assistance, the U.N. says. 

(Reporting by Poppy McPerson and Shoong Naing; Writing by John Mair; Editing by William Mallard, Aidan Lewis) - Reuters

NAY PYI TAW: Myanmar, which was hit by a devastating earthquake on March 28, has requested Asean member states, especially Malaysia, to send more medical teams and health facilities to the country for the recovery phase.

Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said the matter was among those raised by the chairman of the State Administrative Council (SAC), Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, during his meeting here today in conjunction with a one-day humanitarian mission to Myanmar following the earthquake.

"The search and rescue process is over. Now is the recovery phase. Myanmar needs a lot of international assistance… after this, Myanmar needs the assistance of medical teams, equipment and medical facilities such as operating rooms and medical specialists.

"This is because 74 of their hospitals are no longer usable because the buildings are not safe to use," he told Bernama before concluding his humanitarian mission visit to Myanmar.

The humanitarian mission was also led by his Thai counterpart, Maris Sangiampongsa. Mohamad and Maris also held a meeting with Myanmar's Foreign Minister U Than Shwe.

Mohamad said Malaysia's task after this is to find appropriate steps to send a medical team to Myanmar after the search and rescue phase of the operation is over.

"There is a request from Myanmar for Asean countries, especially Malaysia, to send a field hospital and I have just spoken to the director-general of the Malaysian Armed Forces medical corps, Gen. Datuk Seri Zulkefli Mat Jusoh (regarding the matter).

"How can we send a number of health teams because Myanmar needs many surgeons, operating rooms and medical volunteers because they (health teams) have to operate under tents," he said, describing the situation in Myanmar as quite critical.

Meanwhile, Mohamad said Aung Hlaing and Than Shwe also expressed their appreciation to Asean countries that were willing to lend a hand from various aspects, especially Malaysia, which was also described as one of the earliest countries to channel aid to Myanmar.

Mandalay, Bago, Magway, northeastern Shan state, Sagaing and Nay Pyi Taw in Myanmar were among the worst-affected areas, as well as affecting neighbouring Thailand.

The death toll from the earthquake has risen to 3,145, with 4,589 injured and 221 still missing, as of Friday. - Bernama