By Mark Farmaner
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.
Following the Burmese military response to Cyclone Nargis in 2008, when the military systematically blocked international aid and local community response aid teams, instead telling people to eat plump frogs, the bar was already set very low. Anything better than that would be seen as progress. So, when the military appealed for international aid following the earthquake, a basic response that would be obvious and expected in most countries, they were praised.
While we 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.
Something so basic as allowing emergency teams into the country is only praised because the bar is so low. Of course, this access did not extend to the large parts of the country no longer under Burmese military occupation. While the worst impacted area is occupied by the Burmese military, people required assistance in non-military occupied areas as well.
Min Aung Hlaing, head of the Burmese military, was also quick to exploit the earthquake to seek the international legitimacy he craves. Military-controlled media and military-run social media accounts were full of pictures of Min Aung Hlaing on the phone to Presidents and Prime Ministers in the region, several of whom had previously shunned him since the coup.
It was followed by a meeting of regional leaders at the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) in Bangkok, and then a meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. The Burmese military used the humanitarian crisis to leverage these meetings, and to their shame regional countries were willing to go along.
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 Burmese military also gained praise for belatedly declaring a ceasefire, which they broke on day one and every day after. The Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), which has a long track record of living in an alternative reality as far as Burma is concerned, comically called on the Burmese military to renew its non-existent ceasefire when it was due to expire.
While western governments and aid agencies mostly avoid military-controlled institutions when delivering aid, other countries are not so careful. Many countries in the region 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.
Thankfully, military attempts to use the earthquake to persuade the USA to unfreeze around $1bn in frozen funds appear not to have been successful.
Relief supplies and money via military-controlled channels face numerous risks of being stolen, corruptly misused and diverted. It will not be used based on prioritising support for those most in need.
The need for humanitarian access in response to the quake also means that there is a reluctance to call out the Burmese military over ongoing human rights violations, including continued airstrikes. The fear is that criticism and sanctions could see the Burmese military respond with new restrictions. Some have even naively argued that the military allowing access is a breakthrough which should be rewarded and encouraged. This is a dangerous misunderstanding of how the Burmese military works, and one which pops up every few years from people relatively new to the situation in the country. New sanctions targeting the Burmese military, which had already slowed from a trickle to a dribble, seem even less likely now.
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.
While the Burmese military has carefully exploited the earthquake to maximise benefit for itself, the response of the people of Burma has been the opposite. Neighbours helped neighbours. People from outside the earthquake zone filled cars with water and food and drove there to help. Civil society organisations immediately began assessing what had happened, and who needed what aid where. Burma Campaign UK’s sister charity, Advance Myanmar, received requests for support from a wide range of civil society organisations and individuals providing assistance, in particular to those not receiving support from anywhere else. 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.
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.
You can donate to local aid teams helping earthquake victims here.