Tag Archives: quake

World News in Brief: Afghan quake update, diplomacy continues to end Sudan war, UN honours victims of 9/11

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Women and children face heightened risks, while operational challenges – including restrictions on female UN staff – threaten life-saving relief efforts.

The twin quakes, measuring 6.0 and 6.2, struck on 31 August and 4 September, flattening entire villages in Kunar, Nangarhar, Laghman and Nuristan provinces. Mountainous terrain and landslides blocked key roads, leaving air transport as the only reliable access. 

Assessments indicate over 6,700 homes were destroyed or damaged, forcing most families to shelter in the open without privacy, clean water, or basic services.

Ensuring critical healthcare

UNFPA, the UN reproductive health agency, has deployed health teams to the hardest-hit areas, providing maternal and reproductive healthcare, psychosocial support and counselling. More than 9,500 people have received assistance so far.

“Women and children in particular are extremely traumatized,” said a psychosocial counsellor. “Our goal is to support their emotional and mental health and provide whatever assistance we can, including medicines and dignity kits.”

Among the affected, UNFPA estimates some 11,600 pregnant women face heightened risk due to limited access to health services.

“For pregnant women, a natural disaster can turn an already challenging time into a life-threatening crisis,” said UNFPA Representative Kwabena Asante-Ntiamoah.

World Health Organization (WHO) mobile teams have been deployed to provide trauma care, maternal and child health services, mental health support, immunizations, and emergency nutrition.

The agency has also dispatched 43 tonnes of medical supplies and provided over 4,500 consultations through its clinics.

Sudan: UN envoy heads to region in call for dialogue towards peace

The UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for Sudan, Ramtane Lamamra, has travelled to East Africa to address the ongoing civil conflict there and push for negotiations towards a peace deal.

 In a post on X earlier this week, Mr. Lamamra called on combatants and political actors in Sudan “to engage in constructive dialogue leading to a sustainable solution.”

The goal of the visit is to make progress on the protection of civilians and to strengthen multilateral mediation efforts in the country.

Push for high level consultations

To achieve that, he is working together with the African Union to organize a ministerial-level consultative group meeting in Addis Ababa.

As the rival militaries continue to attack civilians and vital infrastructure, many displaced people and other communities are receiving reduced food assistance, or none at all.

“We continue to reiterate our calls for an end to this conflict that has left 25 million people acutely hungry,” said the UN Secretary General’s Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric at a press conference on Thursday.

UN honours 9/11 anniversary, stands with New Yorkers 

Marking the 24th anniversary of the 11 September terror attacks, the UN reaffirmed its enduring solidarity on Thursday with the people of New York, the city where it has been headquartered for nearly 80 years. 

“New York has hosted the United Nations for 80 years and has been the home to many of our colleagues, as well as to diplomats, staff, and of course all the Secretaries-General. We continue to stand in solidarity with the people of New York, as we did 24 years ago,” said UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric. 

The attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan claimed nearly 3,000 lives from over 90 countries and left thousands more injured. 

Decades later, survivors and first responders continue to face long-term health challenges, including respiratory illnesses, cancer, and mental health struggles. 

A place to call home

“New York City has hosted our UN Headquarters for decades and is the place many colleagues call home – so do I,” said Secretary-General António Guterres.

“Today, my thoughts are with everyone who lost loved ones on 9/11, and with all the people of New York City,” he added, in a social media post. 

The UN emphasised its ongoing commitment to commemorate the worst terror attack in US history, honouring the victims, and supporting New Yorkers as the city continues its journey of resilience and healing. 

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Afghanistan quake: ‘Communities are struggling with basic survival’

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Briefing correspondents in New York via video link, Shannon O’Hara spoke from Jalalabad on the conditions in Afghanistan just days after the magnitude 6 earthquake and its devastating aftershocks.

“We saw families whose lives had been shattered just within a few minutes,” the head of strategy for OCHA in Afghanistan said.

Left with nothing

“The earthquake had destroyed their homes, their farms and their livelihoods, leaving them with absolutely nothing.”

OCHA has managed to reach 49 damaged villages in the Nangarhar, Kunar and nearby affected provinces in eastern Afghanistan.

As humanitarian workers struggle to reach more regions, current reports show that nearly 40,000 people have been impacted by the earthquake, while over 5,000 homes have been destroyed.

Aid workers face challenges

“Even before the earthquake, these villages were difficult to reach,” said Ms. O’Hara. “Now, with the earthquake, it takes extraordinary effort to get there.”

A narrow, one-way road on the mountainside which was “blocked by large rocks from landslides and many vehicles trying to get up and down the valley” is the only way to get to affected areas from Jalalabad, said Ms. O’Hara.

A 100-kilometre drive took Ms. O’Hara and her team more than six and a half hours. To reach victims, first response teams have to drive – and often travel for hours on foot.

‘The heaviest burden’

Emergency responders are prioritising aid to women, children, and locals with disabilities.

“In Afghanistan, in recent years, women and girls have been pushed to the very margins of society and survival,” said Ms. O’Hara. “We know from previous earthquakes and other crises that women and girls always bear the heaviest burden.”

A estimate from UN reproductive health agency, UNFPA, shows that 11,600 pregnant women have been affected by the destruction – in a country that already has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in region.

OCHA is working to ensure that “that women are represented in health teams and more women aid workers are supporting distributions, along with nutrition, psychosocial and other counseling services,” said Ms. O’Hara.

Alarming potential for disease outbreak

The natural catastrophe has resulted in families living without clean water and sanitation in tents or “under open skies, exposed to rain and cold,” said Ms. O’Hara.

“With cholera endemic in the region and initial assessments indicating that 92 per cent of these communities are practicing open defecation, the potential for a cholera outbreak is alarming,” she continued.

While UN agencies are distributing meals and sanitation kits, efforts need to be scaled up.

“The affected communities are struggling with basic survival,” she stressed.

Urgent action needed

So far, 43,000 victims have received ready-to-eat meals and UN agencies are also providing tents, blankets and sanitation kits to assist families. But humanitarian efforts risk being disrupted if heavy rain floods IDP sites or if potential aftershocks bring more landslides. Snow from the approaching winter season is also expected to block vital roads.

“If we don’t act now, these communities may not survive the coming winter,” said Ms. O’Hara. “Additional funding is urgently needed.”

OCHA has already released $10 million for life-saving supplies and an emergency response plan is currently being finalized.

“Without immediate support the weeks ahead risk compounding this tragedy with preventable disease outbreaks, further displacement and additional loss of life.”

UNOCHA/Ahmad Khalid Khaliqi

Food aid is delivered to people affected by the earthquake in eastern Afghanistan.

Fresh supplies land in Kabul

A new consignment of more than 35 metric tonnes of life-saving medical supplies landed in Kabul on Monday, to enhance the World Health Organization’s (WHO) emergency response.

WHO has now prepositioned and delivered nearly 80 metric tonnes of emergency health supplies to the country since the disaster.

The newly arrived cargo, mobilised through WHO’s logistics hub in Dubai, includes trauma and emergency surgery kits, primary health care kits, noncommunicable disease kits and essential medicines.

These supplies will be dispatched to health facilities and mobile health teams in the hardest-hit areas, following the ongoing needs assessments.

World News in Brief: Afghanistan quake update, Guterres in Papua New Guinea, Ebola returns to DR Congo, UN condemns attack on peacekeepers in South Sudan

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Since the initial earthquake on Sunday in eastern Nangarhar province, landslides and several strong aftershocks have disrupted the work of rescue teams.

In an update, the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, said that access routes remain blocked in various locations including the districts of Chawkay and Nurgal, both in Kunar province, although the authorities have deployed earth-moving machinery to restore access.

Latest estimates indicate that approximately half a million people have been affected – including 263,000 children – while at least 5,000 homes have suffered partial or total damage.

Tremors continue

Among the UN agencies operating there, UN Habitat noted that the earthquake had caused massive upheaval in a remote region where recent returnees from Pakistan and Iran were just beginning to settle.

“There are still more earthquakes every day in the region, causing landslides and making access even harder,” said UN Habitat’s Stephanie Loose in the capital, Kabul.

She noted that women and girls were the main victims because of strict rules preventing them from leaving their homes alone.

“Many of them, due to cultural norms or restrictions imposed, didn’t dare to leave their houses; nor are there sufficient female doctors in the country, and I understand they are not able to reach the women who would need it,” Ms. Loose said.

Papua New Guinea’s on the frontline of climate change, warns Guterres

Papua New Guinea and the Pacific islands are climate change’s “Ground Zero” whose precious rain forests and ecosystems deserve the world’s support to ensure they’re protected, the UN Secretary-General said on Thursday.

Speaking from Papua New Guinea where he visited the world’s third largest rainforest and sat down with civil society representatives, António Guterres highlighted the challenges brought about by climate change in the region.

It’s the first ever visit to the southwest Pacific nation by a sitting Secretary-General.

Earlier, he repeated his warning that the 1.5 degree limit on the rise in global temperatures agreed to under the 2015 Paris Agreement remains in jeopardy.

And although scientists say that it is still possible to limit global warming, the UN chief urged countries to unveil their new national climate plans to reduce emissions and “seize the opportunities” arising from the renewable energy revolution.

New Ebola outbreak declared in DR Congo

Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have declared an outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Kasai province where 28 suspected cases and 15 deaths – including four health workers – have been reported as of Thursday.

The outbreak is concentrated in the Bulape and Mweka health zones in Kasai Province, in the south-central region of DRC. Symptoms of the rare – but severe – and often fatal illness, include fever, vomiting, diarrhoea and haemorrhaging.

Samples tested on 3 September at the country’s National Institute of Biomedical Research in the capital Kinshasa confirmed the cause of the outbreak as the Ebola Zaire strain.

Experts deployed

A national Rapid Response Team assisted by UN World Health Organization (WHO) experts in epidemiology, infection prevention and control – as well as case management – has been deployed to Kasai province.

Communication experts have also been deployed to reach communities and help them understand how to protect themselves.

Additionally, WHO is delivering two tonnes of supplies including personal protective equipment, mobile laboratory equipment and medical supplies.

The area is difficult to reach and at least a day’s drive from the provincial capital Tshikapa, with few air links.   

“We’re acting with determination to rapidly halt the spread of the virus and protect communities,” said Dr Mohamed Janabi, WHO Regional Director for Africa.

“Banking on the country’s long-standing expertise in controlling viral disease outbreaks, we’re working closely with the health authorities to quickly scale up key response measures to end the outbreak as soon as possible.”

Cases likely to rise

Case numbers are likely to increase as transmission is ongoing.

The country has a stockpile of treatments, as well as 2,000 doses of the Ervebo Ebola vaccine already prepositioned in the capital city Kinshasa that will be quickly moved to Kasai to vaccinate contacts and frontline health workers.   

The DRC’s last outbreak affected the northwestern Equateur province in April 2022.

It was brought under control in under three months thanks to the robust efforts of the health authorities. In Kasai province, previous outbreaks of Ebola virus disease were reported in 2007 and 2008. In the country overall, there have been 15 outbreaks since the disease was first identified in 1976.

UN condemns attack on peacekeepers in South Sudan

The UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, UNMISS, has condemned an attack by a local armed group which targeted “blue helmets” in Western Equatoria state.

The militants subsequently seized a small cache of weapons and ammunition. The incident occurred while peacekeepers were conducting a patrol between Tambura and Mapuse.

“We emphasise that any attack against peacekeepers may constitute a war crime,” UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said at the daily press briefing in New York on Thursday.

“These peacekeepers are deployed to protect civilians at a time when access and security remain fragile across Western Equatoria,” he added.

Meanwhile, widespread flooding is also impacting hundreds of thousands of people in several parts of the world’s youngest nation, which became embroiled in civil war soon after gaining independence in 2011.

A fragile 2018 peace accord is in danger of unravelling amid fresh offensives and deteriorating humanitarian conditions.

Flooding affects 270,000

Local reports suggest that over 270,000 people are affected by flooding in 12 counties across four states.

These areas were already grappling with floods, displacement, food security and cholera, said Mr. Dujarric, with farmland, homes and humanitarian facilities now submerged, disrupting access to education, health, nutrition and water services.

UN humanitarians say overcrowding at relocation sites has led to tensions among displaced families at the same time, reports of waterborne diseases and snake bites are increasing public health risks.

Peacekeepers serving with the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) have increased their presence and intensified vehicle patrols, navigating treacherous, rain-soaked routes both day and night.

Afghanistan quake: Rescuers arrive on foot, survivors need everything

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Latest updates from UN assessment teams who reached affected communities in mountainous Ghazi Abad district on foot on Tuesday underscored the urgent need to press on with the humanitarian response.

“The issue of getting people out from under the rubble is urgent,” said Salam Al-Jabani from the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, in Kabul. “People are saying what is urgently needed is people to help us bury the dead and get them out.”

Preliminary reports from Afghanistan’s de facto authorities now indicate that at least 1,400 people were killed and more than 3,100 injured when a magnitude six earthquake struck northeastern regions late on Sunday.

Casualty figures are expected to rise further as search and rescue teams reach affected areas, but some remote communities have yet to be reached. Access problems are the result of rockfalls and landslides triggered by the earthquake and heavy rains in the days before the disaster.

“Our teams had to leave their cars and walk two hours to get to Ghazi Abad,” explained Mr. Al-Jabani. “Other villages are six to seven hours’ walk away and still not reached…not even by the local authorities’ helicopters. 

Communications are also patchy or non-existent: “There is one cell tower near a health centre, otherwise it is dark,” Mr. Al-Jabani continued.

International response

As part of the international response, the UN has dispatched at least 25 assessment teams to the affected region and boosted humanitarian air service flights from Kabul.

For its part, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, is deploying prepositioned essential relief items from stockpiles in Kabul, including tents, blankets and solar lamps.

Immediate priority needs include emergency shelter, medical supplies, drinking water and emergency food assistance.

But “getting medicines in is very hard…They are bringing essentials only on foot” from the nearest UNICEF-supported hospital, Mr. Al-Jabani noted.

Health care provision remains fragile, with medical staff at one damaged centre in Ghazi Abad with clearly visible cracks in the walls now treating people “outside, under trees”, as they are too afraid to stay inside, he added.

It is understood that thousands of local community members are now surging into the area to help the search and rescue effort, bringing with them water and food. “People in their thousands are moving in and out of the area,” the UNICEF official noted.

 

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Afghanistan quake: Aid teams still scrambling to reach survivors

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The magnitude six quake has already left more than 800 dead and at least 2,000 injured, but the total impact could be in the “hundreds of thousands”, according to the UN’s top aid official in the country, Indrika Ratwatte.

Speaking from Kabul, Mr. Ratwatte said that mud and wooden roof structures were predominant in the affected mountainous provinces.

“When the walls collapse, the roof is what basically falls on individuals, kills them or suffocates them,” he said. “Since this happened in the night, everybody was sleeping,” the senior UN aid official explained, indicating that many more people may be trapped under the debris.

Massive loss of homes, livestock

Hundreds of thousands could be impacted, “as in houses destroyed, injured, casualties, livestock lost and any livelihood systems that they had”, Mr. Ratwatte explained.

In the first critical 24 hours after the earthquake hit, access was “very limited”, owing to landslides and rockfalls triggered by the tremors.

“This has posed a huge challenge to us as we deploy right now,” Mr. Ratwatte said, stressing that 20 emergency assessment teams have been mobilized alongside 15 mobile teams “which will enhance the humanitarian flights from Kabul to Jalalabad”, capital of the affected Nangarhar province.

The UN Humanitarian Air Service has scheduled additional flights connecting Kabul and Jalalabad for personnel and cargo to scale up the response.

The aid official also said that the UN and others are trying to set up or repair damaged mobile networks as there is “zero connectivity” with some affected communities, “and even to bring in helicopters and land,” another challenge for the de facto authorities.

“It’s not easy to get to these areas and keep shuttling injured individuals,” he said.

Disease danger

Mr. Ratwatte underscored the importance of protection work, “including psychosocial support for individuals who lost family and loved ones”. He also stressed that it was urgent to dispose of bodies and dead livestock to prevent waterborne diseases, “which can happen very, very fast”.

One of the first responders in the affected areas was the Afghan Red Crescent. Joy Singhal, Acting Head of Delegation for Afghanistan of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said that more people could have been saved if road access were easier.

“Our staff and volunteers sometimes have to [walk] for about four to five hours to reach some of those remote villages,” he said. Once they reach their destination “they have to walk back and bring those affected and wounded people into the city centre…the two hospitals there are overwhelmed.”

Disaster, time after time

Afghanistan has long faced what the UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator Mr. Ratwatte called “systemic humanitarian challenges”. Half of its population – or some 22.5 million people – need assistance, while food insecurity has been aggravated by recent drought. Sweeping funding cuts to humanitarian programmes since the beginning of the year have meant that “hundreds” of aid facilities have had to close.

“The earthquake comes at a time where vulnerable communities are going to be super-exposed to additional stresses,” Mr. Ratwatte said.

Another major challenge is the return in 2025 of 2.4 million Afghan refugees from Iran and Pakistan, whom communities in the country have been “struggling to integrate”, said UN refugee agency (UNHCR) spokesperson Babar Baloch.

“More than half of these are deportations, people who have been put on buses and other forms of transport and left at the borders to go home, and it has already put a further restraint on our ability to support,” Mr. Baloch said.

Deported regardless 

He also stressed that the majority of returnees are heading precisely to the earthquake-affected areas. In another “worrying” development, Sunday marked “the end of grace period for registered Afghan refugees in Pakistan” and UNHCR is preparing for “significantly more returns” in the coming days.

“These people already with very little resources are now returned to a disaster zone,” Mr. Baloch said.

“We are at breaking point in terms of response to the multiple humanitarian shocks in the country,” the UN’s Mr. Ratwatte insisted.

The $2.4 billion humanitarian response plan for Afghanistan for 2025 is only 28 per cent funded, “and here we have an emergency on top of the crisis situation”, he concluded.

Aid effort underway after Afghanistan quake ‘wipes out’ villages

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“I stand in full solidarity with the people of Afghanistan after the devastating earthquake that hit the country earlier today,” the Secretary-General said in an online message. “I extend my deepest condolences to the families of the victims and wish a speedy recovery to those injured. The @UN team in Afghanistan is mobilized and will spare no effort to assist those in need in the affected areas.”

On the ground, several UN agencies reported devastation across four eastern provinces of Afghanistan including Nangarhar and Kunar, where staff and humanitarian partners are already supporting relief efforts. 

Hundreds of houses are believed to have collapsed in remote hillside communities, where many likely crumbled on top of others located on terraces further downhill.

“When an earthquake of this magnitude happens, the homes basically tumble on top of each other,” Salam Al-Jabani from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) told UN News. “And because it was so late at night, families were at home sleeping and that’s why we see such big losses.”  

The UN Humanitarian Air Service has scheduled additional flights connecting Kabul and Jalalabad for personnel and cargo to scale up the response. 

Trapped inside

Witnesses reported that the earthquake happened at around midnight local time, heightening fears that many Afghans may still be trapped under the rubble of their homes. The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that many youngsters had been killed, as first responders said that poor phone and signal quality was impacting rescue and assessment activities.

The tremor’s epicentre is estimated to have been only around eight kilometres (six miles) underground, causing buildings to shake in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and in Pakistan’s capital city, Islamabad, according to reports.

Among those providing assistance are the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), the UN aid coordination office (OCHA) the UN World Health Organization (WHO) and many more.

“As reports of deaths and injuries from the #earthquake in eastern region of #Afghanistan continue to emerge, @WHOAfghanistan teams are on the ground in hospitals and health facilities, supporting the treatment of the wounded and assessing urgent health needs,” the UN health agency said.

“We are actively delivering essential medicines and supplies and deploying health teams to affected areas to help #SaveLives.”

How the UN helps

United Nations teams are on the ground in more than 160 countries, working with the authorities and partners on joint programmes in communities to promote climate action, food security, gender equality and safety of civilians.

The UN has been present in Afghanistan since 1949; the global body’s work there is driven by the Resident Coordinator, Indrika Ratwatte, as head of a country team which includes around 20 UN agencies and international organizations such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.

International appeal

Also on the ground to provide assistance, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, noted that up more than 2,000 people have been likely injured in the province of Kunar alone. It is feared that the trading city of Jalalabad may have suffered a “very high death toll”, said UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch.

The UN agency is among those rushing lifesaving support to affected areas including medical equipment, shelter, clean water, tents and blankets. It underscored how the emergency has added “death and destruction” to Afghanistan’s many other existing human challenges that include drought and the return of millions of nationals from neighbouring countries.

Mr. Baloch insisted that the scale of this disaster “far exceeds the current capacity of local authorities and communities… We are appealing to the donor community globally to support urgently required relief efforts. Afghans need our support and assistance now, before it’s too late for many others.”

Aid teams will have to overcome challenging terrain to help some of the most remote communities who can only be reached on foot, OCHA noted.

It said that the de facto authorities have deployed heavy machinery to Nurgal and Chawkay districts to remove road blockages and that some sections have reportedly been reopened. Critically injured people have also been airlifted by helicopterto Jalalabad and Asadabad hospitals which are now the main referral points for victims in Nangarhar and Kunar provinces.

But “a number of isolated communities” can only be reached by foot with travel time currently up to three hours from the point of obstruction, OCHA noted, highlighting those in Dewagal Valley in Chawkay district and Mazar Valley in Nurgal district, Kunar province.

The earthquake is one of the worst to hit Afghanistan and comes less than two years since three deadly 6.3 magnitude quakes shook Herat on the other side of the country. They struck on 7, 11 and 15 October, killing 1,480 people and injuring 1,950 others across 382 villages, leaving widespread destruction.

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‘She cries in her sleep’: Deeper crisis looms beneath devastation from Myanmar quake

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“I hate earthquakes. Earthquakes took my mother and my aunt away,” five-year-old Khin Yadanar told the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), after both her mother and aunt were killed when a brick wall collapsed on them.

Around 6.5 million children were already in need of humanitarian assistance before the earthquake, which compounded existing vulnerabilities resulting from the brutal civil war between multiple armed opposition groups and the military junta which seized power in a February 2021 coup.

Families now face a further threat from flooding and landslides with the arrival of the monsoon season.

Midwives are lifelines

As health services collapsed after the earthquake, “women, especially pregnant mothers, were severely impacted,” said Yu Yu, a midwife in Mandalay, speaking to the UN’s reproductive health agency, UNFPA.

Amidst the chaos, midwives have emerged as frontline heroes. Undeterred by aftershocks and confronting both physical obstacles and emotional challenges, midwives provided hope and life-saving support.

Yu Yu notably recalls the case of one of her patients who suddenly became stranded, unable to reach any medical facilities as she went into labour following the quake.

Without hesitation, Yu Yu rushed to her side: “When I reached her, she was exhausted, overwhelmed by fear and financial insecurity following the earthquake,” she recalled.

On that day, Yu Yu saved both mother and child, as the baby’s umbilical cord had wrapped itself around the infant’s neck.

UNFPA has deployed mobile clinics to ensure that women and girls continue to receive essential healthcare and protection services.

A 10-year-old boy with his parrot on his shoulder at a temporary camp set up in the aftermath of devastating earthquake that struck Myanmar.

Deep trauma

“She cries in her sleep, and I worry something inside her has broken,” said Thida, mother of eight-year-old Thiri, speaking to UNICEF.

Beneath the visible devastation of the earthquake lies a deeper crisis: the profound psychological trauma that young survivors carry.

“I was so scared. My heart was beating so fast – and all I could think about was my parrots and cats at home,” said Thurein Oo, a ten-year-old boy who was praying at a mosque when the tremor struck.

Across earthquake-affected areas, parents are witnessing similar signs of distress in their children – sudden anxiety, emotional withdrawal, and sleepless nights, say UN aid workers.

In response to this growing mental health crisis, UNICEF and its partners have mobilised to provide critical psychological support to affected communities.

Setting up child-friendly spaces, UNICEF aims to promote psychosocial wellbeing, build resilience, and restore a sense of normalcy to children’s routines. Through various activities such as drawing, children learn to cope with their trauma.

“I coloured a picture of my mother,” said Khin, who lost her mother in the quake. “I feel better when I draw.”

Although the physical rebuilding of homes and infrastructure will likely take years, the emotional and psychological toll the earthquake has had on children cannot be left untreated.

“I like coming here,” said Thurein, referring to one of these spaces. “I feel safe, and I made a new friend who also lost his home,” he added.

Earthquake survivors survey the ruins of their homes in Pyinmana, Myanmar following the earthquake there.

Proactive planning

While earthquakes are among the deadliest natural hazards, it is the collapse of buildings that causes the most devastating effects. As such, proactive disaster risk reduction – such as making structures earthquake-resistant – is essential to reducing deaths and economic losses.

Focusing on risk-sensitive urban development, UN-Habitat and the UN office for disaster risk reduction (UNDRR) are also working across Myanmar to mitigate the risks future earthquakes could pose.

While little can be done to prevent natural hazards such as earthquakes from occurring, much can be done to mitigate their effects.

As rebuilding efforts are underway, the UN is dedicated to “ensuring that each step we take makes the rebuilt areas stronger and more resilient than before,” said Anacláudia Rossbach, Executive Director of UN-Habitat.

Myanmar quake: Ongoing aftershocks spread fear

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Aid agencies warned on Tuesday that more than 6.3 million people remain in urgent need of support in the worst-affected central areas around Mandalay.

“People [are] forced to sleep outside, safe water is scarce, health services are disrupted,” said UN aid coordination office, OCHA, in an appeal for more support from the international community.

The latest aftershock struck late on Sunday night and measured 4.4 on the Richter scale, said UN partner the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

“This is provoking widespread fear within a population already traumatised and also fear within the responders themselves,” said Nadia Khoury, IFRC Head of Delegation in Myanmar, speaking from Yangon.

Millions impacted

While the attention of the international community has faded, dispossessed families still need help rebuilding their lives, said OCHA’s Christina Powell.

“The emergency for most is far from over – it is another crisis on top of the challenges already facing the people of Myanmar,” said Ms. Powell. “People told me they are too afraid to go back into their homes, worried they could collapse at any moment with the ongoing aftershocks.”

In badly affected areas including Mandalay and Bago in the south of the country, some communities already suffered unprecedented floods last September. The earthquakes brought another wave of devastation.

Assessments indicate that the quakes damaged or destroyed 55,000 homes in the Central Asian nation, where civil war has raged since a military coup in February 2021.

In Mandalay, OCHA reported that locals have continued to deliver food and household items to people still living on the roadside or in community shelters. But needs are widespread and include shelter, food, personal hygiene kits and even toilets, said OCHA’s Tin Aung Thein.

“These people are already vulnerable depending solely on their daily wages. For their recovery, international support is greatly needed.”

Over the last month, IFRC has provided life-sustaining support – including safe drinking water, healthcare, tarpaulins for tents and items for women and children – to more than 110,000 people.

The aid organization has also delivered 250 metric tons of aid and helped distribute over 220,000 litres of safe drinking water to Myanmar every day. Its $121 million appeal is only 15 per cent funded.  

Right to live in dignity

Ms. Powell of OCHA urged the international community to step up and support the population’s right to “live in safety and dignity”.

“Additional and quick disbursement of resources and sustained access to all communities are vital to ensure that the situation does not deteriorate even further,” Ms. Powell insisted. 

Destitution and disease stalk Myanmar’s quake survivors

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The UN World Health Organization (WHO) is just one of the UN agencies working to help the most vulnerable in worst-hit central areas, but much more help is needed.

“When it rains, they can’t sleep, and when the rain stops, they still can’t sleep because they feared the wind might have their only shelter away,” said Dr Thushara Fernando, WHO representative in Myanmar.

In an update from Yangon, the WHO medic warned that the risk of waterborne disease “is becoming a reality” for all those still living under plastic sheeting with stagnant water all around.

A cholera outbreak was already reported in Mandalay just a few months ago.

Survivors “feed their babies, they eat, they drink in their tents; they don’t have even a simple mosquito net to sleep under in the night,” Dr Fernando continued.

“Water sources are contaminated, temporary toilet facilities are overwhelmed, and acute watery diarrhoea has been reported in two areas,” he continued.

Two major earthquakes hit central Myanmar on 28 March killing at least 3,700 people. About 5,100 more were injured and 114 are still missing, according to WHO. The true toll is likely much higher because of underreporting.

Aftershocks continue

Survivors and aid teams have experienced more than 140 aftershocks – some as high as magnitude 5.9 – which have added to widespread trauma and impeded humanitarian assistance.

To help, the UN health agency has delivered around 170 tonnes of emergency medical supplies to help 450,000 people for three months.

WHO is also coordinating more than 220 emergency medical teams in earthquake affected areas and it has launched a targeted dengue prevention initiative in coordination with national and local partners.

This includes the distribution of about 4,500 rapid diagnostic test kits for frontline responders and hundreds of insecticide-treated nets to protect people in the hardest-hit areas, such as Mandalay.

The March 2025 earthquake caused widespread destruction Mandalay.

Critical moment

The WHO medic said that the agency continues to help deliver a range of services, albeit at a “very limited” scale. This includes trauma care, mental health and psychosocial support, along with maternal and child health services and non-communicable disease prevention.

“Without urgent, sustained funding, the risks of secondary health crises will erupt,” said Dr Fernando.

Echoing those concerns, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) noted that early signs of acute watery diarrhoea “are already emerging” in worst-hit areas.

Access to food and essential services have been disrupted, causing worsening nutrition conditions, “especially for young children”, the UN agency’s Eliana Drakopoulos told UN News.

“With low immunization coverage and the monsoon approaching, the risk of preventable disease outbreaks is rising fast,” Ms. Drakopoulos added. “Urgent action is needed.”

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