On 28 March 2025, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck central Myanmar at approximately 1:10pm local time, its epicentre located 17 kilometres south east of Mandalay. On Sunday 30 March, another 5.1 magnitude earthquake was recorded north west of Mandalay, at 3.38pm local time. (Source: British Red Cross)
The military rulers of Burma (Myanmar) have exploited the country and its people for over 60 years now, since the military coup led by General Ne Win in March 1962. They have taken from the country and its people for all that time, greatly enriching themselves in the process. In collusion with foreign companies, they have stripped the land of many of its resources, while often treating people as little more than slave labour.
Indeed, I remember visiting Karen refugee camps in Thailand 20 or more years ago, while Karen state in Burma was being exploited by the military and the French oil giants Total, with a pipeline being built through Karen land, with local people forced to work on the project while anybody else going near the pipeline, was in danger of being shot as the area was declared a free-fire zone.
It is of no great surprise then, to learn from Burma Campaign, that the Burmese military have been happy to exploit even the terrible earthquake that hit Burma on 28th March this year.
Exploiting the earthquake
Mark Farmaner, Director of Burma Campaign UK, has commented in an 8 May 2025 article:
‘The earthquake which struck Burma on 28th March 2025 has been anything but a disaster for the Burmese military. Instead, they have swiftly exploited the earthquake for their own benefit.’
He also points out:
‘Following the Burmese military response after Cyclone Nargis in 2008 … the military systematically blocked international aid and local community response aid teams, saying that people should instead, eat plump frogs. Consequently, when the present military regime appeal for international aid, which after all this just a very straightforward basic response that would be obvious to most countries, they ended up being praised.’
Farmaner further notes that Burma Campaign UK have:
‘Received reports of the limited response from the Burmese military in providing help to people impacted by the earthquake, that local community response teams were facing numerous obstacles and risks in trying to reach and help people, international agencies said they did not face as many challenges in helping people as in the past. Earthquake rescue teams from countries in the region and authoritarian allies were allowed in, but western teams were conspicuously absent.’
The article goes on to explain that the only reason why the Burmese military regime has been praised for allowing emergency teams to come into Burma is because so little is expected of them in terms of care and compassion for the people they claim to rule. It is pointed out that there are large parts of Burma in which military access simply doesn’t extend, because they are now no longer under Burmese military occupation. While it may be true that the area impacted the most by the earthquake is in the Burmese military zone, people have still required assistance in non-military occupied areas as well.
Min Aung Hlaing and international legacy
Burma Campaign UK have also pointed out that Min Aung Hlaing, who is the head of the Burmese military, ‘was quick to exploit the earthquake in order to try and gain the international legitimacy he craves.’ Consequently, military run social media and the military controlled media itself, were soon full of pictures of Min Aung Hlaing on the phone to ‘Prime Ministers and Presidents’ in Southeast Asia, several of whom had ‘shunned’ him in recent years since the coup in 2021.
Furthermore, Farmaner noted that:
‘The Burmese military also played their decades old UN Envoy visa game. Another way of setting the bar so low that something that should be unremarkable is seen as significant. By regularly refusing visas, and then finally providing a visa, it is seen as some kind of diplomatic breakthrough.
‘The controversial UN Envoy Julie Bishop, was given a visa, again something which was welcomed, but seems to have said something to upset them though, as military-controlled media went on to describe her as a ‘has been’ and a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) appointment.’
The article reports that another way in which the Burmese military gained praise was for belatedly declaring the ceasefire against those groups which oppose them. However, it wasn’t long before that ceasefire was broken. In fact, Burma Campaign UK state that the military broke that ceasefire on day one and have done so for every day since then. In response the association of South Eastern Asian nations (ASEAN), called on the Burmese military to renew its non-existent ceasefire when it was due to expire.
Avoiding military-controlled institutions
Fortunately, western governments and aid agencies tend to avoid any dealings with the military controlled institutions when delivering aid. However other countries are not so careful. Burma Campaign UK reported in the same article of 8 May that many countries in the area around Burma:
‘… donated money or emergency relief through military-controlled ministries and institutions. Justice for Myanmar also estimates the military received around $55 million in corporate donations, mainly from Burmese, Chinese and Japanese companies.’
However,
‘… attempts by the military to use the earthquake to persuade the USA to unfreeze around $1 billion in frozen funds appear not to have been successful’.
Human Rights violations
It is also reported that the need to gain humanitarian access in response to the earthquake has led to a reluctance to call out the Burmese military over Human Rights violations, including continued air assaults, for fear of new restrictions.
Burma Campaign UK note that:
‘The earthquake response is still in the emergency stage, with thousands of displaced people in urgent need of support, many living in tents under monsoon rains and at risk of disease because of lack of sanitation. This hasn’t stopped the Burmese military already moving on to the reconstruction stage, where there are also opportunities for them to cash in. The vast Burmese military business empire includes cement brands (cement has doubled in price), steel, and logistics companies which transport building supplies.’
The response of the people of Myanmar
So, the Burmese military have been trying to exploit the earthquake for their own benefit. By way of contrast, how have the Burmese people responded to the crisis?
It is reported that neighbours helped neighbours, and that people from outside the earthquake zone drove to assist in cars filled with food and water. Civil society organisations made assessments to calculate areas in most need of help.
Advance Myanmar, the sister charity of Burma Campaign UK receives requests for support from across a wide range of individuals and civil society organisations and have been able to provide assistance, to those not receiving help from anywhere else.
Farmaner’s article of 8 May 2025 notes:
‘… even people in conflict zones, hundreds of miles away, sent relief teams to Sagaing to help. It is this kind of solidarity which has prevented the Burmese military from succeeding in its coup.’
And the terrible brutal reality is:
‘While some praise the Burmese military for allowing access to international aid teams, local people delivering aid face arrest and even torture by the Burmese military.’
Karen and Karenni refugees
An article of 7 May 2025 published by Burma Campaign UK reported that 108,000 refugees live in camps on the Thailand – Burma border. For the most part Karen and Karenni people, these groups have had the value of their meagre food rations cut to $10 US per day.
The situation is rapidly becoming desperate:
‘… rations for children under 5 years old will be reduced to just 53 Thai Baht (approximately $1.50) per month—a mere 5 US cents per day for food. Those over 5 years old will receive only 87 Thai Baht (about $2.40) monthly, equating to 8 US cents daily per person. Even before these drastic reductions, food provisions were already below the minimum required for survival.’
Donors have been cutting or reducing funding for refugees in Thailand for the past 15 years.
‘As a result, this humanitarian emergency stems from a long-term reduction in international aid. New cuts in international aid, including US AID, are also expected to severely impact food assistance for internally displaced people (IDPs) throughout Burma, including over 1 million displaced persons in Kawthoolei (Karen areas) and neighbouring regions—the highest number in Karen history.’
Zoya Phan from Burma Campaign UK
Zoya Phan, who is also an ethnic Karen originally from Kawthoolei, told us::
“China is moving into the humanitarian space left by the USA and other western countries, providing much more support after the earthquake than the USA. But while western aid benefited the people, Chinese aid went via the Burmese military, and comes with conditions. The sad truth is that the Burmese military get much more aid from the international community than the people of Burma do. Western countries are cutting aid to the people while authoritarian regimes like Russia and China provide arms and loans to the Burmese military.”
Helping the people of Burma
Find out how to help the people of Burma recover from the devastating earthquake here.
To write to Foreign Secretary David Lammy and International Development Minister Baroness Chapman about UK foreign aid to Burma, please see here.
