It’s been nearly a month since a powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck central Myanmar, killing over 3,700 people and injuring thousands more. The military junta has announced it will extend its ceasefire after meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in Bangkok for rare backroom talks with ASEAN. Is this disaster a brief window for peace and cooperation—or does the humanitarian response risk becoming another front in Myanmar’s civil war? On this episode of #ConsiderThis Melisa Idris speaks with Alexander Matheou, Asia Pacific Regional Director for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
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00:00Hello and good evening. I'm Melissa Idris. Welcome to Consider This. This is the show
00:24where we want you to consider and reconsider what you know of the news of the day. It's
00:28been nearly a month since a powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck central Myanmar, killing
00:35over 3,700 people and injuring thousands more. Yesterday, the military junta extended its
00:43ceasefire after meeting with Malaysian President Anwar Ibrahim in Bangkok for rare backroom
00:49talks with ASEAN. Now, is this disaster a brief window of pause for peace and cooperation
00:58or does the humanitarian response risk becoming another front in Myanmar's civil war? Well,
01:06joining me now on the show to discuss this further is Alexander Matthew, Asia Pacific Regional
01:12Director for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, IFRC.
01:20Alexander, thank you so much for being on the show with me today. Maybe you can begin our
01:23conversation today by giving us a bit of an overview of the current humanitarian situation
01:29in Myanmar following the devastating earthquake and the aftershocks that came after.
01:35Thank you for having me. Well, when you drive into Mandalay at the moment, it's not immediately
01:41striking that something huge has happened because the earthquake has hit houses and buildings quite
01:48sporadically. So you might see one side of a street is ineffective and then you look to your left and
01:54several houses are destroyed. You might find one street that looks totally intact and you might go
01:59to another and half of the houses or more are flattened. You go past temples or churches and mosques
02:05and many of those buildings have been totally destroyed. One of the striking features you see at the
02:11moment is hundreds of thousands of people are living on the streets because it's not possible to go back
02:17because their houses have been destroyed or because it's not safe to go back because their houses have
02:23been partially damaged and they don't longer feel comfortable sleeping in them because there are
02:27constant aftershocks. Now the presence of so many people living on the streets is of course a huge
02:32humanitarian and logistics challenge because they don't have access to clean drinking water,
02:38don't have access to latrines, it's difficult to stay hygienic, it's difficult to cook,
02:43all of these and it's not always safe. There's lots of women and children sleeping out in parks with
02:49parks full of strangers. So it's an unnerving situation with aftershocks and living outside in
02:56extreme heat and the monsoon coming and of course what people really want is to go home as soon as they
03:01can. All right so talk to me about your work there. The IFRC has been there addressing the issues of
03:11the humanitarian crisis even before the earthquake. Right now what are the primary challenges you're
03:19facing delivering aid to those who need it the most, the most affected areas? Where do you see the needs
03:25to be most urgent? Well it's good that you started by saying the work before the earthquake because
03:31if you take Sagain Township for example, the epicentre of the earthquake, there were around 1.5 million
03:39displaced people in Sagain already staying in monasteries or in mosques sometimes, sometimes
03:45churches supported but mostly it was monasteries. Now many of those buildings have been destroyed so
03:51you have people who are already displaced and vulnerable now doubly vulnerable because their one
03:57solid, their one opportunity for shelter and protection has been taken away from it. So what are
04:03the immediate needs at the moment? The most immediate needs are related to the fact that people are
04:08living on the street, sleeping outside in extreme heat, sleeping on the floor. It's a huge health risk
04:15because cooking and staying clean is very difficult in those environments, very easy to fall sick. The
04:22monsoon rains will start soon, people are sleeping on the floor. That is going to be extremely uncomfortable
04:28and generally that sense of where is your next meal coming from, where can you get clean drinking water,
04:33how do you stay clean and healthy while living on the streets under a tarpaulin. Now credit to Myanmar,
04:41they really do help each other in times of crisis so it's not just monks and monasteries although they
04:47have been fantastic, it's local businesses, neighbours, they come out, they look after each other but in the
04:53long run it won't be enough because ultimately what is the solution? There's only one solution, people need to go
04:58back home. That means clearing rubble for hundreds of thousands of houses and reconstructing them. Now
05:04that is a huge enterprise. For us at the moment big priority keep people sheltered, bed, clean water,
05:14given medical care that they need while they're living on the streets but our big long-term priority
05:19is to support that return home. Okay well let's talk about the short term then, the temporary ceasefire that
05:26was declared by the military junta, had that helped in terms of access to relief efforts or are you still
05:34finding that there are limitations to access and that the ceasefire really doesn't actually improve
05:41the situation? Well it is helpful because some of the affected populations live in areas where control is
05:51contested and therefore special permissions and need to need to be received in order to get access to
05:57those communities. I would say that this particular earthquake, the vast majority of affected people
06:05are in areas that are largely accessible and can be accessible to humanitarian organizations. So the
06:12conflict itself heavily shapes Myanmar, it massively shapes the quality of life in the country, it's fundamentally
06:20changed the lives of all those millions of people who have been displaced or stuck in areas affected
06:25by fighting but this particular earthquake has largely been in areas less directly affected by conflict
06:32and are therefore more accessible to humanitarian organizations. Now ultimately Myanmar for many many
06:38years has been one of the top 10 most vulnerable countries in the world and that is related to conflict and
06:45any hope for peace is going to start with ceasefires, ceasefires that at least allow people to receive basic
06:53life-saving assistance. So we don't know how long this will last, we hope it will last a long time
06:59but it's the sort of thing you would want to see and need to see in order to have hope for peace.
07:05Just focusing a little bit more on the urgency of the short-term needs, you talked about the
07:10monsoon rains coming and with so many displaced individuals and lacking proper shelter and sanitation.
07:20How concerned are you about potential disease outbreaks? Are you getting ahead of that? Is
07:26there some measures being put in place to prevent the risk of a potential disease outbreak?
07:33I think it is a major concern at the moment. If you go there right now this week you would go into
07:39football fields or parks you would see many many tents or plastic sheets. People will be staying away
07:46from the tents because of the extreme heat in the day but there will be sheltered there in the night.
07:52You would see that they are not easily accessing clean water. Many of them don't have access to soap
08:00and many of them don't have ways of cleaning their cooking utensils. So right now that risk of health
08:07outbreaks are really is really quite high. Now there's nothing inevitable about it staying that way.
08:12We're for example shipping in 200 metric tons of relief items, soaps, hygiene kits, things that people
08:21will need to stay clean and healthy and to protect themselves and their loved ones while they're living
08:27outside even during the monsoon rains. So if that humanitarian operation can move fast enough,
08:34if everyone can be given adequate shelter, soap, cooking materials, access to clean water, then you
08:43should be able to prevent the worst outbreak. But right now I think there's really reason to be nervous.
08:50Okay. Are you seeing, Alexander, you and your team, are you seeing efforts to address some of the
08:56removing the rubble and getting people back to their homes safely so they can have proper shelter?
09:03Is that being done or is right now still the focus on immediate humanitarian aid dispersion?
09:11Melissa, it must be both. Because the two things, one has to start while the other is still going on.
09:18Because clearing the rubble away will take a long time. Right now there is nowhere near enough
09:23equipment to clear that rubble. There's a few private contractors who are being hired out by
09:29wealthier families or by, for example, some of the churches and the monasteries are trying to clear up
09:35quickly. But there is nowhere near enough to meet the demand from so many families. Plus the less
09:43wealthy ones may not be able to afford the price of clearing that rubble. So that's where I think
09:47we can come in and help. But the two things will happen at the same time. Hundreds of thousands
09:53of people will stay living on the streets while the rubble is being cleared. So we want to move
09:58forward as quickly as we can with both. Probably the best thing for us to do is to give as much
10:04money as possible directly into the hands of the people who have been affected, the poorest ones,
10:09so they can hire people or companies to clear away their rubble and reconstruct their homes.
10:15That's probably easier than us trying to do it for so many people. And ultimately when you ask people
10:20now what do they want most, of course they need soap and clean water and shelter. They're worried
10:25about today. But more than anything they're worried about tomorrow. So it's people ask for cash support.
10:32They want to go home. And that's how we, I think we can really help them in there.
10:36Right. They need support to rebuild their lives. They want to be hopeful for the future.
10:42Alexander, what then would you say to the international community watching this crisis
10:46unfold right now? Particularly also from a regional standpoint. Malaysians today watching
10:52as we are Chair of ASEAN and we take pride in that. But what can we do to be more effective,
10:59not just in supporting from a diplomacy standpoint, but also in helping people on the ground?
11:07Well, we start with compassion and solidarity. An earthquake can happen to anybody. Nobody's to
11:12blame for it. Life was ticking along as normal for many people in a difficult way in Myanmar,
11:17rather ticking along as normal. And then suddenly something absolutely out of their control happened
11:23and fundamentally changed their lives. It took thousands of lives, left lots of people shocked
11:30and heartbroken and many more hundreds of thousands without their homes. It's the moment when solidarity
11:36between neighbours, regional neighbours and the global community is very, very necessary. ASEAN,
11:44I think, plays a particular role in mobilising that first response, getting in search and rescue teams,
11:51getting in medicines. Some of the ASEAN neighbours have done that particularly well. So we're very,
11:57very grateful to them. But I would say this, both to ASEAN and the global community, the recovery
12:04is going to last a lot longer than the new story. And it will take commitment, time and effort to get
12:11hundreds of thousands of people from the streets into homes so they can restore something of a normal
12:17life. There's no one agency that is able to do that. It's something that we all need to do together.
12:23ASEAN individuals who are willing to contribute, the global community, everyone can help. But if we do it
12:29well, within the next six to 12 months, the majority of people who have been displaced can be back home.
12:36If we don't do it well, if we neglect them, or if we fail to raise enough money or to engage
12:42constructively in their recovery, then this extremely vulnerable country, already full of displacement,
12:49is going to have two or three hundred thousand more destitute people. And that's not good
12:54from Myanmar, it's not good for the region, not good for the world.
12:57Alexander, thank you so much for being on the show today. Alexander Matthew here,
13:02Asia Pacific Regional Director for IFRC. We're going to take a quick break here and consider this.
13:08We'll be back with more. Stay tuned.