Myanmar Junta Declares Ceasefire After Devastating Earthquake

Myanmar's ruling military declared a temporary ceasefire in the country's civil war on Wednesday to facilitate relief efforts following a devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake that has claimed the lives of more than 3,000 people. The announcement by the military’s high command was reported late Wednesday on state television MRTV, which said the truce would run until April 22 and was aimed at showing compassion for people affected by Friday's quake.

As of late Wednesday local time, the death toll from the tremor had climbed above 3,000, Chinese state television station CCTV reported, according to Reuters. The announcement of a temporary truce by the junta followed unilateral temporary ceasefires announced by armed resistance groups opposed to military rule. Those groups must refrain from attacking the state, or regrouping, or else the military will take “necessary” measures, the army’s statement said.

Rescue Efforts Continue Amidst Devastation

Earlier Wednesday, rescuers pulled two men alive from the ruins of a hotel in Myanmar’s capital and a third from a guesthouse in another city, five days after the quake. But most teams were finding only bodies. The quake hit midday Friday, toppling thousands of buildings, collapsing bridges and buckling roads.

The death toll rose to 3,003 on Wednesday, with more than 4,500 people injured, MRTV reported. Local reports suggest much higher figures. The earthquake came amid civil war in Myanmar, making a dire humanitarian crisis even worse.

A Humanitarian Crisis Exacerbated

More than 3 million people had been displaced from their homes and nearly 20 million were in need even before it hit, according to the United Nations. Two of the major armed resistance forces fighting the military, which seized power in 2021 from the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, had announced ceasefires to facilitate the humanitarian response to the earthquake, though the military initially did not relent in its attacks.

Dramatic Rescues Offer Hope Amidst Tragedy

In the capital, Naypyitaw, a team of Turkish and local rescue workers used an endoscopic camera to locate Naing Lin Tun on a lower floor of the damaged hotel where he worked. They pulled him gingerly through a hole jackhammered through a floor and loaded him on to a gurney nearly 108 hours after he was first trapped.

Shirtless and covered in dust, he appeared weak but conscious in a video released by the local fire department, as he was fitted with an IV drip and taken away. State-run MRTV reported later in the day that another man was saved from the same building, more than 121 hours after the quake struck. Both were age 26.

Another man was rescued by a team of Malaysian and local crews from a collapsed guesthouse in the Sagaing township, near the epicenter of the earthquake close to Myanmar’s second-largest city, Mandalay.