Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), an international medical organization, will send emergency teams to Myanmar after a powerful earthquake that killed at least 144 people and wounded around 1,500 more, according to early official data.
However, access to several areas remains extremely limited, not only because of ongoing conflict but also due to physical damage to infrastructure.
It was around 12:50 p.m. local time on Friday, March 28, when the earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7 slammed the central region of Myanmar, based on reports. There were aftershocks, notably a 6.4, reported as far away as Yangon and Naypyidaw, and the epicenter was situated close to the town of Sagaing, which is located just to the north of Mandalay.
Massive fear and evacuations were prompted by the earthquake, notably in regions where MSF (also known as Doctors Without Borders) is active, according to Federica Franco, MSF’s Head of Mission in Myanmar.
“While we are not in the areas that have been most impacted by the earthquake, all of our teams in [Myanmar] really felt it and all of our offices were also evacuated,” said Franco. “It was a particularly long one, to be honest, which is also why it was scary for a lot of us.”
“Thankfully, all of our staff is safe, but we are deeply concerned about the people in the affected areas,” she added. Franco pointed out that because of communication outages and limited access in areas affected by war, the entire amount of the damage is yet unknown.
“At the time, it’s quite hard to fully grasp the extent of the damage. Official reports that just came out say that there is about 144 people that lost their lives and almost 1,500 that have been injured,” she said. She stated that they’r expecting numbers to rise, as everything is preliminary. Key roads, including the express highway from Yangon to Naypyidaw and Mandalay, have been affected. Airports have also closed.
“We had a team on the road earlier today (March 29), but they had to come back,” Franco said. “And then of course, as you can imagine, this is making it incredibly challenging, not just to get information, but also to reach physically those people that are urgently in need of help.”
MSF said it is ready to respond and is currently mobilizing its emergency response plans. Immediate priorities include sending out assessment teams and, if possible, deploying trauma care specialists.
Their priority at the moment is to deploy assessment teams and ideally, an emergency trauma care team.
She said they need access and time is particularly critical in such situations, particularly to those who need immediate care.
“MSF has made it very clear that we are willing to engage with all stakeholders, of course, to make this happen,” she added.
As the situation continues to evolve, MSF said it remains on standby to intervene once access is granted, amid fears that many affected communities may still be unaccounted for.
