Edited News | UNICEF , OCHA , WHO , UNHCR
Myanmar earthquake latest: window for lifesaving support is closing, say UN humanitarians
As the death toll continues to rise in earthquake-struck Myanmar, UN humanitarians have been rushing to support severely deprived and traumatized victims, warning that the window for lifesaving response is closing.
Speaking to journalists from Yangon on Tuesday, Julia Rees, Deputy Representative of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in the country described seeing massive needs rising by the hour.
“Entire communities have been flattened,” she said, with children and families sleeping out in the open with no homes to return to.
“I met children who were in shock after witnessing their homes collapsed or the death of a family member… some have been separated from their parents and others are unaccounted for,” she explained.
Some 72 hours after the quake rocked Mandalay and Sagaing regions as well as Nay Pyi Taw and southern Shan state, the death toll has risen to around 2,000, according to the country’s military junta, with hundreds unaccounted for and thousands injured.
“The window for lifesaving response is closing,” Ms. Rees said, while across the affected areas, families face acute shortages of clean water, food and medical supplies.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that local search and rescue teams, supported by international rescue units from a number of countries including China, India, Russia, Thailand and Bangladesh, have been “intensifying their efforts” particularly in central Myanmar, which has continued to experience aftershocks.
The UN’s top humanitarian official on the ground, Marcoluigi Corsi, freshly back from a visit to the country’s capital Nay Pyi Taw said that as the critical window for finding survivors under the rubble was narrowing, conditions in the affected areas continued to deteriorate.
“You have no electricity, you have no running water,” he said, while people were battling the summer heat. “Often there are aftershocks and people are scared to go inside their homes,” he added.
Dr. Fernando Thushara, the representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Myanmar, said that in Nay Pyi Taw, he saw hospitals “overwhelmed with patients”.
“The medical supplies were running dry. There were electricity disruptions in some hospitals… and shortages of running water,” he said, adding that in some cases power generators were not working and hospitals were short on fuel.
Dr. Thushara warned that a lack of fresh water and sanitation could fuel outbreaks of infectious diseases “unless we control them very quickly”.
He recalled that a few months back, several townships in Mandalay had been affected by cholera. About 800 cases of the water-borne disease had been reported until February across nine states and regions in Myanmar, while other infectious diseases such as dengue, hepatitis, malaria may spread further.
The dire health situation is not the only crisis confronting the people of Myanmar. UN refugee agency (UNHCR) spokesperson Babar Baloch stressed that the country is “reeling” from four years of conflict sparked by a military coup in 2021, while the UN’s Mr. Corsi said that in the past few years it has suffered a cyclone and massive flooding.
Mr. Baloch spoke of a “double tragedy” for the people of Myanmar, highlighting the fact that even before the devastating earthquake hit, all the affected areas already hosted 1.6 million displaced people.
Mr. Corsi stressed that the disaster-affected communities’ resilience is now highly compromised. Close to 20 million people across the country were already in need of humanitarian assistance before the earthquake hit and over 15 million were going hungry. Over three months into the year, the UN’s $1.1 billion humanitarian appeal for Myanmar remains only five per cent funded. “This is time…for the world to step up and support the people of Myanmar,” he concluded.
-Ends-
STORY: Myanmar earthquake update UNICEF - OCHA - WHO - UNHCR 1 April 2025
TRT: 2:16”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 1 APRIL 2025 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Exterior wide shot: Palais des Nations, Flag Alley.
2. Wide shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference; speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.
3. SOUNDBITE (English) – Julia Rees, Deputy Representative in Myanmar, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “What I saw was devastating. Entire communities have been flattened. Children and families are sleeping out in the open with no homes to return to. I met children who were in shock after witnessing their homes collapsed or the death of a family member, and some have been separated from their parents and others are unaccounted for.”
4. Wide shot: Speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.
5. SOUNDBITE (English) – Julia Rees, Deputy Representative in Myanmar, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “The needs are massive and they’re rising by the hour. The window for lifesaving response is closing. And across the affected areas, families are facing acute shortages of clean water, food and medical supplies.”
6. Wide shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference from rear; speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.
7. SOUNDBITE (English) – Marcoluigi Corsi, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator a.i. in Myanmar: “You have no electricity, you have no running water. This is summertime, it’s very hot. And homes are being damaged or destroyed. And because of course, there are often, aftershocks and the people are indeed scared to go inside their homes.”
8. Wide shot: Speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.
9. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr. Fernando Thushara, Representative in Myanmar, World Health Organization (WHO): “I saw the influx of patients to the hospitals in Nay Pyi Taw. Hospitals were overwhelmed with patients. The medical supplies were running dry. There were electricity disruptions in some hospitals. The generators even were not working and shortages of running water. And they were low on fuel.”
10. Wide shot: Speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.
11. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr. Fernando Thushara, Representative in Myanmar, World Health Organization (WHO): “The hardships that some of them are facing today in terms of water, sanitation, etcetera, will turn into outbreaks of infectious diseases in the future, unless we control them very quickly.”
12. Wide shot: Speakers at the podium in the Press room.
13. SOUNDBITE (English) – Babar Baloch, spokesperson, UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “Even before this devastating earthquake that hit, all the affected areas were hosting 1.6 million people that were displaced.”
14. Various shots of speakers and journalists in the Press room.
B-roll available:
UNICEF: https://weshare.unicef.org/Package/2AM408M02Q3T
UNHCR: https://media.unhcr.org/asset-management/2CZ9LOYKN8SO?WS=SingleAsset_SharePublic
and photos from IFRC: https://shared.ifrc.org/collections/_QGw2Ax5d
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
“Deadly attacks on distraught civilians trying to access the paltry amounts of food aid in Gaza, are unconscionable. For a third day running, people were killed around an aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. This morning, we have received information that dozens more people were killed and injured,” Jeremy Laurence UN Human Rights spokesperson said at the biweekly press briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA
Gaza ‘hungriest place on earth’ with aid stymied – UN humanitarians
Starving Gazans continue to be deprived of aid as international relief efforts are being severely constrained by the Israeli authorities, the UN humanitarian affairs coordination office OCHA said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNRWA
As a controversial United States and Israel-backed aid distribution plan gets underway in Gaza, the UN called on Tuesday for an “immediate surge” of its own pre-positioned supplies to help prevent starvation.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani today urged Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to reject a bill that was recently endorsed by parliament allowing trials of civilians in military courts. The Uganda People’s Defence Forces Amendment Bill 2025, which was passed on 20 May and now awaits presidential signature to become law, among others broadens the jurisdiction of military courts, authorising them to try a wide range of offences against civilians.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Seif Magango today warned of a further deterioration in the human rights situation in South Sudan at the bi-weekly briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , WHO
Syria: ‘Staggering’ needs amid insecurity, health care crisis - UN humanitarians
Millions of people in Syria continue to face mortal danger from unexploded munitions, disease and malnutrition and urgent support is required, UN humanitarians said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , OCHA , WHO
UN life-saving aid allowed to trickle into Gaza as civilian needs mount
Amid calls for more humanitarian trucks to enter the food and medicine-deprived Palestinian enclave of Gaza, UN humanitarians have received permission from Israel for “around 100” more aid trucks to cross into the Strip after only five were let in yesterday, But the scale of relief efforts allowed remains entirely insufficient to meet the urgent needs of people there, humanitarian workers say.
1
1
1
Edited News
A war reporter from Lebanon who lost a limb in the line of duty is calling for an end to impunity for attacks against journalists.
1
1
1
Edited News | ITU
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) commemorated 160 years dedicated to connecting the world on Saturday, 17 May in Geneva, Switzerland, during the annual World Telecommunication and Information Society Day.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , OCHA
Gazans ‘in terror’ after another night of deadly strikes and siege
Amid reports that Israeli strikes across Gaza into Friday killed at least 64 people, aid teams once again pushed back strongly at allegations that aid is being diverted to Hamas and pleaded for the blockade to end.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
Deportations over recent months of large numbers of non-nationals from the United States of America, especially to countries other than those of their origin, raise a number of human rights concerns, the UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Gaza: Over 50 child malnutrition deaths amid aid blockade; entire generation will be ‘permanently affected’ - WHO
In the aid desert of Gaza, malnourished children are dying while survivors can expect a lifetime of dire health problems, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.