On March 28, in the Mandalay and Sagaing district of Burma, the people there were hit with a devastating earthquake. At magnitude 7.7, hundreds — maybe thousands — have been injured or killed.
Not long after the earthquake, the Burma Air Force launched airstrikes in northern Shan State. These airstrikes are in addition to artillery and ground attacks in different areas of Burma that continue in spite of the earthquake.
David Eubank
In Burma, we have two kinds of devastation, one natural and one unnatural and completely man-made.. Every country faces challenges and natural disasters, but on top of this, the dictators of Burma have added their own misery to the people.
We are in Burma right now on a humanitarian relief mission and felt the earthquake strongly in southern Shan State. We were in the jungle where almost all the people are hiding as they’ve been hunted and chased by the military for more than three years now.
“In Burma, we have two kinds of devastation, one natural and one unnatural.”
Even though the ground shook and the trees swayed, no one was injured. There were no buildings to collapse on them because they’ve been chased from their homes by the military. The nearby town of Moebya already has been devastated by Burma military and reduced to rubble and so there was nothing there left to fall.
And just across the border in Karenni state, it is the same. More than 350,000 people — almost the entire population of Karenni state — have been displaced by attacks of the Burma military. There are constant attacks on the ground and from the air as the military uses ground forces, artillery, jet fighters, bombers and drones to kill their own people.
The night before the earthquake, we had a funeral for one of the young men killed by the Burma army who was about to join our group. And now we have this earthquake. Because it is in the dictators’ controlled areas, we don’t have direct access. The Burma military blocks the way and has provided very little assistance.
In spite of this, local community-based organizations and groups of people are doing their best to help. They were immediately helping to dig victims out of the rubble and assisting as much as they could. They need more help in the form of heavy equipment and specialized rescue and medical teams to extract the living and bring out the dead.
Also needed is extensive medical support for the injured as well as humanitarian assistance of food and shelter and comfort for all the people who now have no home.
This assistance needs to go directly to the affected communities and not through the government. There are local organizations and international organizations that can do this very well and are ready and willing to help. We pray they will be allowed by the Burma government to do that.
We are grateful for the local as well as international groups that want to help. We appeal to the Burma military to stop their attacks and allow this assistance to go directly to the people, to stop these man-made disasters on top of natural disasters. We pray the hearts of the Burma military will change and there can be a representative democracy with justice and freedom and reconciliation for all, including the military.
David Eubank was born in Texas and grew up as the son of Christian missionaries in Thailand before attending Texas A&M University and being commissioned as a U.S. Army Special Forces and Ranger officer. He is founder and leader of Free Burma Rangers, a humanitarian service movement for oppressed ethnic minorities of all races and religions in the Burma, Iraq, Kurdistan, Syria and Sudan war zones. His work was highlighted in an episode of the PBS show The Good Road.
Related article:
Allow me to rattle you a bit | Opinion by Craig Martin