ISLAMABAD: Pakistan handed over the second consignment of 35 tons of emergency relief aid to Myanmar authorities on Sunday, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said, as the earthquake death toll in the Southeast Asian nation surged past 3,450.
The magnitude 7.7 quake struck Myanmar on Mar. 28, causing the deaths of 3,455 people and injuring over 4,508 as per official figures. The United Nations has urged the world to rally behind Myanmar, describing the devastation in the country as “staggering.”
Pakistan had dispatched its second aid consignment to Myanmar through an air cargo flight from Islamabad to Yangon on Saturday.
“Pakistan formally handed over its second consignment of 35 tons of emergency relief aid for earthquake affectees to Myanmar authorities at Yangon International Airport,” the NDMA said.
Pakistan’s Ambassador to Myanmar Imran Haider, along with the Pakistani embassy’s diplomats and officials, handed over the relief items to the chief minister of Yangon Region, the NDMA said.
“This latest shipment brings the total relief assistance dispatched to Myanmar to 70 tons in response to the recent earthquake,” it added.
The NDMA said Pakistan’s government remains steadfast in its commitment to providing humanitarian assistance to the earthquake-affected people of Myanmar.
Earlier, Pakistan’s mission in Myanmar handed over the first consignment of 35 tons of humanitarian assistance to the chief minister of Yangon region for onward distribution among those impacted by the disaster.
The quake has worsened an already dire humanitarian crisis triggered by the country’s civil war that has internally displaced more than 3 million people and left nearly 20 million in need, according to the UN.
Myanmar military government’s leader, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, has said the earthquake was the second most powerful in the country’s recorded history after a magnitude 8 quake east of Mandalay in May 1912.
