The regime Ministry of Home Affairs instructed its Bureau of Special Investigation to record the personal information of aid workers providing earthquake relief in Sagaing Region, a source close to the ministry told DVB on condition of anonymity. This new measure coincided with regime leader Min Aung Hlaing’s visit to Sagaing, the epicenter of the earthquake, on Sunday.
“[The intelligence officials will record] where the volunteers come from, where they go, what they donate, and whether they donate individually or as a group,” the source added. Sagaing is located 68 miles (109 km) east of the region’s capital Monywa and 14 miles (22 km) west of Mandalay – another of the six regions hardest hit by the earthquake. Aid workers claimed that they have received no assistance from the regime.
“We have to inform the authorities about our equipment and personnel upon arrival. They decide where we can go,” a spokesperson for an aid group working in Sagaing and Mandalay regions told DVB. Regime Deputy Minister Soe Win stated on Saturday that aid groups must obtain approval from regional authorities and cooperate with them during their relief operations in central Myanmar.
Aid groups in Ayeyarwady Region planning to deliver aid and assistance to those impacted by the earthquake told DVB that they have been required by local authorities since Friday to request travel permission, submit documentation with the number of its workers, and provide the amount of donations it has received. A regime administrator told DVB on the condition of anonymity that this is due to “security concerns.”
Some even accused ward and village administrators of asking for access to earthquake relief donations for their own “charitable activities.”
Since March 28, the National Unity Government (NUG) has collected nearly 1.5 billion MMK ($340,000 USD) in relief funds through its Spring Development Bank (SDB).
The “Spring Crowdfund” spokesperson Amelia Logan told DVB that the campaign is set to end on April 11. All funds go to the NUG Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management.
Min Aung Hlaing promised to give 1 million MMK ($220 USD) to families of each person who died in the earthquake. DVB data states that the country has received nearly $137 million USD in foreign aid as of Sunday.
The NUG announced on Saturday that the earthquake has claimed at least 47 lives, injured 55, and impacted 25,296 people living in 49 villages in its areas of Sagaing Region under its control. Khampat, Mawlu, Pinlebu and Shwe Pyi Aye towns in Sagaing are administered by the NUG with security provided by its armed wing, the People’s Defence Force (PDF).
DVB has documented the death toll from the March 28 earthquake is 4,316 with 696 bodies recovered in Sagaing and 2,759 in Mandalay. The regime reported 3,514 killed since the earthquake with 561 bodies recovered from Sagaing as of April 6.
