{"id":1120,"date":"2025-04-25T21:22:34","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T21:22:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brhrd.be\/?p=1120"},"modified":"2025-10-18T10:13:31","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T10:13:31","slug":"myanmar-earthquake-survivors-face-rising-health-crisis-amid-pre-monsoon-rains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brhrd.be\/?p=1120","title":{"rendered":"Myanmar Earthquake Survivors Face Rising Health Crisis Amid Pre-Monsoon Rains"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>One month after the devastating earthquakes struck central Myanmar, tens of thousands of survivors are still living in fragile conditions, with <strong>destitution, disease, and despair<\/strong> stalking their daily lives, according to United Nations agencies on the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With many families still sheltering under <strong>makeshift tents of plastic sheeting<\/strong>, vulnerable communities are now facing <strong>pre-monsoon storms<\/strong>, stagnant water, and increasing risks of waterborne diseases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Living in Fear and Hardship<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Describing the grim situation, <strong>Dr. Thushara Fernando<\/strong>, WHO Representative in Myanmar, said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cWhen it rains, they can&#8217;t sleep. When the rain stops, they still can&#8217;t sleep because they fear the wind might blow their only shelter away.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>He warned that <strong>contaminated water sources, overwhelmed toilets<\/strong>, and <strong>the absence of basic protection like mosquito nets<\/strong> are exposing survivors to cholera, dengue, and acute watery diarrhoea. A <strong>cholera outbreak<\/strong> had already been reported in Mandalay prior to the earthquakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Humanitarian Toll<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The earthquakes, which struck on <strong>28 March 2025<\/strong>, killed at least <strong>3,700 people<\/strong>, injured <strong>5,100<\/strong>, and left <strong>114 still missing<\/strong>, though actual numbers are feared to be much higher due to underreporting.<br>Since the initial quake, survivors have endured <strong>over 140 aftershocks<\/strong>, some as strong as <strong>magnitude 5.9<\/strong>, adding to trauma and complicating relief efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>WHO and UNICEF Response Efforts<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>To meet the urgent needs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>WHO<\/strong> has delivered around <strong>170 tonnes of emergency medical supplies<\/strong>, supporting <strong>450,000 people<\/strong> for at least three months.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>More than <strong>220 emergency medical teams<\/strong> have been deployed to the earthquake-affected zones.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Dengue prevention initiatives<\/strong> are underway, with <strong>4,500 rapid diagnostic kits<\/strong> and hundreds of <strong>insecticide-treated nets<\/strong> distributed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite these efforts, services such as <strong>trauma care, mental health support, and maternal health services<\/strong> are operating at a very limited scale due to funding shortfalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cWithout urgent, sustained funding, the risks of secondary health crises will erupt,\u201d warned Dr. Fernando.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>UNICEF<\/strong> also raised alarms about deteriorating conditions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Access to food, healthcare, and clean water<\/strong> remains severely disrupted.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Early signs of <strong>acute watery diarrhoea<\/strong> are emerging.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Malnutrition rates<\/strong> are worsening, particularly among young children.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Low immunization coverage<\/strong> threatens to spark preventable disease outbreaks, particularly as <strong>monsoon rains<\/strong> approach.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Urgent Action Needed<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>As Myanmar&#8217;s earthquake survivors brace for even harsher conditions during the coming monsoon season, UN agencies are calling for <strong>immediate international support<\/strong> to prevent a full-scale humanitarian health disaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cUrgent action is needed to protect children and families already on the brink,&#8221; said <strong>Eliana Drakopoulos<\/strong> from UNICEF.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>The situation remains critical\u2014and without expanded funding and humanitarian access, Myanmar could soon face <strong>secondary health crises<\/strong> that would claim even more lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One month after the devastating earthquakes struck central Myanmar, tens of thousands of survivors are still living in fragile conditions, with destitution, disease, and despair stalking their daily lives, according to United Nations agencies on the ground. With many families still sheltering under makeshift tents of plastic sheeting, vulnerable communities are now facing pre-monsoon storms, [&hellip;]\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,71,68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-humanitarian-aid","category-news","category-topics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Myanmar Earthquake Survivors Face Rising Health Crisis Amid Pre-Monsoon Rains - Brussels for Human Rights and development<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brhrd.be\/?p=1120\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Myanmar Earthquake Survivors Face Rising Health Crisis Amid Pre-Monsoon Rains - Brussels for Human Rights and development\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One month after the devastating earthquakes struck central Myanmar, tens of thousands of survivors are still living in fragile conditions, with destitution, disease, and despair stalking their daily lives, according to United Nations agencies on the ground. 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