- Title: Water and medicine in short supply after Myanmar earthquake, says UN
- Date: 1st April 2025
- Summary: MANDALAY, MYANMAR (APRIL 1, 2025) (VIDEO OBTAINED BY REUTERS) INJURED PEOPLE LYING ON HOSPITAL BEDS INJURED CHILD LYING ON HOSPITAL BEDS VARIOUS OF CROWDED HOSPITAL/ PEOPLE USING HAND-HELD FANS VARIOUS OF INJURED PEOPLE RECEIVING TREATMENT AT MAKESHIFT OUTDOOR WARD EXTERIOR OF HOSPITAL GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (APRIL 1, 2025) (REUTERS) NEWS BRIEFING IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (Eng
- Embargoed:
- Keywords: Myanmar OCHA UNHCR UNICEF United Nations damages earthquake food humanitarian aid water
- Location: MANDALAY AND YANGON, MYANMAR / GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
- City: MANDALAY AND YANGON, MYANMAR / GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
- Country: Myanmar
- Topics: Asia / Pacific,Disaster/Accidents,Earthquakes/Volcanoes/Tsunami
- Reuters ID: LVA007331701042025RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES
Shelter, clean water and medicine are in short supply following the earthquake in Myanmar that has caused significant structural damage and had a devastating human toll, the United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Tuesday (April 1).
A 7.7 magnitude earthquake on Friday (March 28), which killed more than 2,700 people and left more than 4,500 injured, severely damaged critical infrastructure including major bridges and roads.
"Teams of search and rescue experts, are working to find people trapped in the rubble. And the critical window for search, as I said, is really narrow now because we are now 72 hours after the earthquake,” OCHA's Myanmar Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Marcoluigi Corsi told reporters in Geneva via video link from Yangon.
Several UN agencies have raised the alarm about the shortage of drinking water, with concerns of cholera spreading.
"The most immediate and important need is water. It is super, super hot out there. And communities don't have access to running water, and they don't have access to drinking water," said Julia Rees, UNICEF’s Deputy Representative, via the video link.
The UN's refugee agency, UNHCR, has identified the situation as a top-level humanitarian crisis and is mobilizing stocks like plastic sheets, sleeping material and mosquito nets.
"The most urgent requirements is shelter and relief items … there is also the risk of explosive ordnance - due to the last four years of active conflict," UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch told reporters in Geneva.
OCHA, UNHCR and UNICEF have raised funding concerns - urging countries to offer money so they can replenish stocks.
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