Naypyidaw, April 5, 2025 — Myanmar’s Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has blamed substandard construction practices for the high number of casualties in the recent devastating earthquake, describing the incident as a painful national lesson bought at the cost of thousands of lives.
Speaking at a special Union Government meeting held at the State Administration Council (SAC) office in Naypyidaw on Friday, the SAC Chairman and Prime Minister Senior General Min Aung Hlaing acknowledged that poorly built structures had collapsed easily during the disaster, leading to widespread destruction and loss of life.
“The tragedy we face today is a direct result of negligent construction. It has cost us dearly in terms of human lives,” the Senior General said, according to an official SAC statement.
He stressed the urgent need for future construction projects to strictly adhere to Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and engineering standards. “We must ensure all new buildings—particularly high-rise and reinforced structures—are capable of withstanding earthquakes of at least magnitude 8 on the Richter scale,” he added.
He also called for increased oversight and accountability among authorities responsible for infrastructure and construction projects, to prevent similar tragedies in the future.
In the wake of the disaster, many people have been forced to live outdoors. He instructed officials to provide adequate temporary shelters, hygienic toilet facilities, clean drinking water, and medical supplies to prevent disease outbreaks, particularly diarrhea. He also stressed the need to accelerate rehabilitation efforts in affected areas.
As of now, the death toll from the powerful earthquake has risen to 3,455, with 4,840 others injured and 214 people still reported missing, according to official figures. In total, more than 8,600 individuals have been directly affected by the disaster.
Preliminary assessments paint a grim picture of widespread destruction across multiple sectors. At least 5,223 buildings have been damaged nationwide, along with 1,824 schools, significantly disrupting education in affected regions. Religious institutions have also suffered extensive losses, with 2,752 monasteries and nunneries either destroyed or severely damaged, and 4,817 pagodas and stupas sustaining various levels of structural harm.
Healthcare infrastructure has not been spared, with 167 hospitals and clinics reportedly destroyed, severely impacting the country’s capacity to respond to the ongoing medical needs of survivors.
Transportation and infrastructure networks have also been crippled. Key segments of the Yangon–Naypyidaw–Mandalay highway and railway systems have suffered serious damage, with several train stations rendered inoperable. Authorities have confirmed that 169 bridges have collapsed, while 198 dams and irrigation facilities have been compromised. Additionally, 184 sections of the national expressway have sustained varying degrees of damage, hampering relief and recovery operations.
In response, emergency rescue teams from 26 countries are now working alongside Myanmar’s local disaster response units in ongoing relief and recovery operations.
This earthquake is one of the worst natural disasters to hit Myanmar in recent memory, with the full scale of the destruction still being assessed.
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