WHO says Myanmar quake a top-level emergency, seeks urgent funding

 

The World Health Organization said Sunday the Myanmar earthquake was a top-level emergency as it urgently sought $8 million to save lives and prevent disease outbreaks over the next 30 days.

The WHO said the high numbers of casualties and trauma injuries were at high risk of infection due to limited surgical capacity in the country, while the underlying conditions in Myanmar meant the quake was likely to intensify the risk of disease.

"WHO has classified this crisis as a Grade 3 emergency, the highest level of activation under its Emergency Response Framework," the United Nations health agency said in its flash appeal for funds.

The initial 7.7-magnitude quake struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay on Friday, followed minutes later by a 6.7-magnitude aftershock. The quake has killed more than 1,700 people in Myanmar and at least 18 in neighbouring Thailand.

In Myanmar, "preliminary assessments indicate high numbers of casualties and trauma-related injuries, with urgent needs for emergency care. Electricity and water supplies remain disrupted, worsening access to health services and heightening risks of waterborne and food-borne disease outbreaks," the WHO said.

"Trauma-related injuries -- including fractures, open wounds, and crush syndrome -- are at high risk of infection and complications due to limited surgical capacity and inadequate infection prevention and control."

$8 million appeal

The WHO said it needed $8 million to respond to the immediate health needs over the next 30 days, "to save lives, prevent disease, and stabilise and restore essential health services".

"Without immediate funding, lives will be lost and fragile health systems will falter."

The WHO said hospitals were overwhelmed, while the scale of deaths, injuries and damage to health facilities "are not yet fully understood".

The agency said displacement into overcrowded shelters, combined with the destruction of water systems and sanitation infrastructure, had sharply increased the risk of communicable disease outbreaks.

"This earthquake strikes amid an already dire humanitarian context marked by widespread displacement, fragile health systems, and disease outbreaks -- including cholera," it said.

"Immediate health needs include trauma and surgical care, blood transfusion supplies, anaesthetics, and essential medicines.

"Disease surveillance must be urgently strengthened to prevent outbreaks of cholera, dengue, and other communicable diseases."

The WHO said the first supplies of trauma kits to treat severe wounds and fractures, and multi-purpose tents, to also create space for the increasing number of injured, had reached a 1,000-bed hospital in the capital Naypyidaw, having been sent from an emergency stockpile in Yangon.

Similar supplies are en route further north to Mandalay General Hospital.

Besides emergency interventions, the WHO said the continuity of essential services such as immunisation and maternal and child health was also critical over the coming 30 days.