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UN Secretary-General urges funding, access and political dialogue after Myanmar earthquake
Summary
The United Nations Secretary-General called the Myanmar earthquake "utter devastation," announced emergency envoys and urged ceasefires, release of political prisoners, and unimpeded humanitarian access.
The United Nations Secretary-General said the earthquake centered in Myanmar has caused "utter devastation and desperation" and appealed for immediate funding, safe and unimpeded humanitarian access, and a political dialogue to address the country’s longer-term crisis.
The secretary-general announced he was sending Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher to Myanmar and that his special envoy, Julie Bishop, would visit in the coming days to "reinforce our commitment to peace and dialogue," and urged the international community to match the scale of the emergency with resources.
Nearly 20,000,000 people — about one in three in Myanmar — already required humanitarian aid before the earthquake, the secretary-general said, and the disaster has "supercharged the suffering," with "the monsoon season just around the corner." He said the immediate death toll was "now 3,000 and climbing," with thousands injured and many trapped under rubble.
"I appeal for rapid, safe, sustained, and unimpeded humanitarian access to reach those most in need across the country," the secretary-general said, adding that temporary ceasefires announced in some areas were welcome but must lead quickly to "a beginning of a serious political dialogue and the release of political prisoners."
The statement linked the acute damage from the quake to preexisting political and humanitarian crises, saying those conditions had already displaced millions and increased regional instability. The secretary-general said the United Nations would "keep pushing for peace and lifesaving support for the people of Myanmar in their hour of need."
No questions were taken following the statement, and no operational details about specific funding sources, timelines for delivery of aid, or the identities of groups enforcing local access restrictions were provided in the briefing.
The announcement of envoy deployments and the appeals for funding and access set immediate priorities for U.N. humanitarian operations, even as the secretary-general emphasized that temporary ceasefires must be followed by an "inclusive political process where all the people of Myanmar feel represented."
