SAGAING, Myanmar: The head of Myanmar’s junta arrived in Bangkok on Thursday for a regional summit as the death toll from his country’s devastating earthquake passed 3,000.
Min Aung Hlaing will join a BIMSTEC gathering — representing the seven littoral nations of the Bay of Bengal — where he will raise the response to Friday’s 7.7-magnitude quake.
The junta chief arrived at Bangkok’s plush Shangri-La hotel, the venue for Friday’s summit, amid tight security, AFP journalists saw.
Many nations have sent aid and teams of rescue workers to Myanmar since the quake but heavily damaged infrastructure and patchy communications — as well as a rumbling civil war — have hampered efforts.
Myanmar has been engulfed in a brutal multi-sided conflict since 2021, when Min Aung Hlaing’s military wrested power from the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Following reports of sporadic clashes even after Friday’s quake, the junta joined its opponents on Wednesday in calling a temporary halt to hostilities to allow relief to be delivered.
AFP journalists saw hectic scenes on Thursday in the city of Sagaing — less than 15 kilometers (nine miles) from the epicenter — as hundreds of desperate people scrambled for emergency supplies distributed by civilian volunteers.
Roads leading to the city were packed with traffic, many of the vehicles part of aid convoys organized by civilian volunteers and adorned with banners saying where they had been sent from across Myanmar.
Destruction in Sagaing is widespread, with 80 percent of buildings damaged, 50 percent severely, UNDP resident representative for Myanmar Titon Mitra told AFP.
“The situation is really devastating,” he said.
Food markets are unusable and hospitals are overwhelmed by patients and structurally unsound, he said, with patients being treated outdoors in heat of 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).
“We have seen children, pregnant women, injured people there. There’s not enough medical supplies,” he said.
“If you look at the overall impacted area, there’s possibly three million-plus that may have been affected.”
Residents say they still face a lack of help nearly a week after the quake.
“We have a well for drinking water but we have no fuel for the water pump,” Aye Thikar told AFP.
“We also don’t know how long we will be without electricity,” she said.
The 63-year-old nun has been helping distribute relief funds to those left without basic amenities.
But many people are still in need of mosquito nets and blankets, and are forced to sleep outside by the tremors that either destroyed their homes or severely damaged them.
“People passing by on the road have generously donated water and food to us. We rely solely on their kindness,” she said.
While Sagaing residents scrabbled for handouts of water and instant noodles, Min Aung Hlaing prepared to sit down for a gala dinner with fellow leaders at the $400-a-night Shangri-La hotel.
The leaders of the seven-member BIMSTEC grouping — Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand — will discuss trade, security and other issues, as Asia reels from US President Donald Trump’s swingeing new raft of tariffs.
Host country Thailand has also proposed that the leaders issue a joint statement on the impact of the disaster when they meet on Friday — a week from the day the quake struck.
Opposition groups and rights organizations have fiercely criticized Thailand’s decision to host Min Aung Hlaing, accusing him of war crimes in Myanmar’s brutal conflict.
His attendance at the summit represents a diplomatic win for Myanmar’s isolated government as it breaks with a regional policy of not inviting junta leaders to major events.
Thai foreign ministry spokesman Nikorndej Balankura defended the decision, saying that the kingdom had a “responsibility” as summit host to invite all the BIMSTEC leaders.
Min Aung Hlaing’s arrival in the Thai capital came as a junta spokesperson said on Thursday that 3,085 deaths from the quake had been confirmed, with 341 people still missing and 4,715 injured.
Bangkok, hundreds of kilometers from the quake’s epicenter, also suffered isolated damage.
The death toll in the city has risen to 22, with more than 70 still unaccounted for at the site of a building collapse.
A 30-story skyscraper — under construction at the time — was reduced to a pile of rubble in a matter of seconds when the tremors hit, trapping dozens of workers.
Rescuers are still scouring the immense pile of debris but the likelihood of finding more survivors is diminishing.