The Irrawaddy

 

The 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck central Myanmar on March 28 has left no corner of the country untouched—including the military elite’s stronghold in Naypyitaw. While junta chief Min Aung Hlaing took cover under a desk during the quake, elsewhere, entire neighborhoods in Mandalay and Sagaing collapsed into chaos, with the death toll nationwide climbing to 3,145 by Thursday.

 

In Naypyitaw, the administrative capital tightly controlled by the military, destruction was severe. Government buildings, roads, bridges, hospitals, and staff housing were badly damaged. According to the junta’s own figures, the city suffered the second-highest death toll after Mandalay, with at least 511 people killed.

 

The junta was initially tight-lipped about the extent of the damage in the capital. But as images circulated of collapsed ceilings and ruined government offices, officials were forced to acknowledge the reality. Even Foreign Minister Than Swe had to attend a crucial ASEAN emergency meeting from a tent outside his damaged office. The National Disaster Management Committee, Myanmar’s top disaster response body, also lost its headquarters and has been operating out of a temporary shelter.

 

The earthquake spared no one—not even the most powerful. Reports suggest that the Row of Six Mansions, home to ex-leaders like Than Shwe and Thein Sein, sustained structural damage. Chandeliers in the presidential palace were seen shattered, and elite war offices were hit hard. Min Aung Hlaing’s own advisor, Yin Yin Nwe, described taking shelter under a table as buildings shook violently.

 

Despite the destruction, government response has been minimal. Rescue operations in hard-hit housing complexes like Khayay and Zabuthiri were largely absent, leaving families of civil servants trapped under debris. One government worker stated that junta officials came to inspect the damage but “did nothing to help.”

 

Even Myanmar’s ruling elite, it seems, could not insulate themselves from the wrath of nature—nor from the failures of their own crisis response system.

 

-2025-04-07

If there were a god this turd would have been flattened by a concrete Buda 🤔