A visit to AP Myanmar shows the country’s struggle to rebuild after the earthquake

MANDARY, Myanmar (AP) – Thae Mama Swe was standing on a mountain of earthquake tiled rubs in the rain of a monsoon. She saw an excavator tearing the concrete and rebars and saw the second machine scooped up the wreckage.

It has been a daily ritual for the 47-year-old tailor for five months since the 7.7 magnitude earthquake. Focusing on Myanmar I defeated a 10-storey building Condominiums and office buildings With her son. Nearly 200 bodies have been recovered from the site. This includes seven people in the past week, but not him.

“If possible, I would trade his life,” she said, her glasses were wet with the rain and swollen with tears.

Disasters of March 28th It has been deployed by over 3,800 people. Myanmar I was already troubled In civil warArmed militias and democratizing forces are fighting against military-led governments that seized power from democratically elected governments. Aung San Suu Kyi 2021.

Rare travel In the disaster zoneThe Associated Press recently witnessed workers rebuilding roads, temples, hospitals, schools and government buildings needed for society to function.

The military has allowed the AP to report on earthquake damage in the capital, Naypyitaw and the country Mandalay, the second largest city – Both areas are firmly under their control. Official representatives accompanied the team to all sites.

The ceasefire was declared after trembling, but the strike continues

All sides declared a ceasefire shortly after the earthquake, but the battle did not actually stop.

Myanmar’s unappointed human rights expert Tom Andrews said military air and artillery attacks are continuing, including civilian targets and areas affected by the earthquake. The attacks have delayed or stopped the provision of humanitarian assistance to many areas. Meanwhile, the rebels also attacked the army.

Even before the trembling united nations It is estimated that over 3.5 million people had evacuated their homes due to the battle, and about 20 million people needed assistance. Now, five months later, the military continues to restrict aid to areas outside its control, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in a report this week.

“The junta has to stop killing people, and that’s just as easy,” Andrews said. “And they need to stop blocking aid.”

Authorities deny it The army known as the Tatmadouwhich holds back any aid and claims that airstrikes respond to attacks from militia groups.

“When the enemy comes and attacks us, we’re just doing it in self-defense,” Zaw Tun Oo, head of the protocol division of Myanmar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told the Associated Press outside the province’s building that was severely damaged by the earthquake.

Several aid organizations operating within Myanmar that require regime permission have declined to comment on the situation.

Earthquake damage, sanctions and budget cuts will hinder recovery

The destruction of infrastructure such as roads and bridges added to the challenge of bringing aid to the worst hit regions. Hospitals, schools, places of worship and other community buildings have been damaged or destroyed, with few places where people can seek evacuation or care.

Along the main highway from Yangon, the largest city in the countryMandalay, the buckled sections of the fallen temples and pavement act as constant reminders of the destructive forces of earthquakes. Military engineers built temporary bridges to allow the Span to pass through the destroyed river. The damaged bridge that continues to stand is being repaired.

Violence is never far away, democratic forces attack along the roads, even after the earthquake.

According to official statistics, in the Mandalay region, around 29,000 homes, 5,000 Buddhist pagodas and 43 bridges have been completely or partially destroyed.

Myanmar continues to trade with China, Russia and others, but Western sanctions are hurting an already struggling economy. This means that authorities can withstand shortages of supply and equipment, while also having fewer free ways to rebuild.

The recent cuts in foreign aid by the US President Donald Trump administration have left both UN organizations and other groups operating within Myanmar, which are struggling to meet humanitarian needs.

The lack of logistics assistance in the United States was particularly severe, Andrews said. In the past, such support has been routine.

Crews race to rebuild Congress before the election

At Naypyitaw’s council complex, up to 500 people work day and night in five most important damaged buildings. The crew repairs collapsed ceilings and walls and reinforces the foundation, so they will be usable in time Elections scheduled for the end of December. The scaffold fills the entire chamber.

It is considered symbolically important that major council buildings are ready to gather in the first session. Critics say elections are normalizing fakes Military acquisitionand several opposition organisations, including armed resistance groups, say they’re trying to get them off track.

Continued Suu Kyi’s democratic party’s disbandment of national leaguewho won the landslide victory in 2020, argues that the opposition parties cannot view elections as fair or representative. The military seized power before the NLD began its second five-year term.

The national unified government, established by elected lawmakers who were barred from taking seats, did not respond to requests for comment.

Elsewhere in the capital, a team of about 40 workers, mainly women, struggle by hand to repair roads on approximately 12 sites. Workers carry large baskets of stones on their heads and shoulders, discarding them to form a foundation, followed by gravel bags topped with asphalt.

As reconstruction progresses, authorities say Myanmar needs help from other countries with experience in building earthquake-resistant buildings.

Ai Minh Tu, chief of the Mandalay Division, Myanmar’s disaster management agency, said his support could “build a resilient society” so that “future generations will not be easily destroyed.”

In one of the largest hospitals in the capital, nothing remains except rusty reinforcement, plastic pipes and concrete. The hospital beds and furniture are stacked under potentially reusable shelters, but Thin Thin SWE, the engineer responsible for the project, said it is not yet clear whether Ottara Thiri hospital will be rebuilt.

The 47-year-old lost two friends, a hospital accountant and the pharmacist, when the main lobby caves down.

“I still pray for them every day,” she said.

Where Mama Swe’s son worked, Kyokoko, the Mandalay fire chief, said recovery work was difficult for his team, especially when he came across a child’s body “prone to being my relatives and family.”

Seeing the slow recovery efforts continue, Mama Swe talked about the guilt she feels about her son’s death, as she only worked in a collapsed building because she encouraged him to return to Mandalay. Her greatest hope is to restore his body, an important part of Buddhist religious rituals.

“I will never give up on that hope,” she said. “Then his soul will be free and I will be able to live in peace.”