population of over one million.40 Speaking to media outlet BenarNews, refugee camp resident Amin’s views reflected those of the vast majority: “Ataullah sold the Rohingya people for his personal gain. We are happy for his arrest. We hope Bangladesh will give him tough punishment.”41 Earthquake devastation These positive steps towards justice and accountability have since been overshadowed by the devastating earthquake that struck Myanmar on 28 March, killing at least 3,800 people according to official figures. The true death toll is likely to be considerably higher, according to the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews.42 Areas hit by the earthquake include Sagaing, Mandalay, Magwe, and Bago Regions, eastern and southern Shan State, and Naypyidaw. Five weeks after the disaster, more than 6.3 million people were reported to be in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, adding to the almost 20 million people already relying on aid.43 Within days of the earthquake, 265 Myanmar civil society organizations, including BROUK, called for disaster emergency relief to be channelled through local community groups and frontline responders in collaboration with the National Unity Government (NUG) and others, instead of the regime. 44 Their analysis cited the military’s long history of aid exploitation - including obstruction and manipulation of relief efforts in response to natural disasters – from Cyclone Nargis in 2008 to Cyclone Mocha in 2023.45 In Sagaing town, in the heartland of the resistance in central Myanmar, hundreds of people are believed to have died needlessly due to the slow and inadequate response to the earthquake. For four days, Muslim volunteers tried to rescue worshippers from a collapsed mosque without any proper equipment. Volunteer Htoo Htoo told Frontier Myanmar, “We had to work on our own, using our hands, hammers and chisels. We didn’t find anyone alive, only dead bodies.”46 Over 100 worshippers are believed to have died in that mosque alone. In the weeks since the earthquake, numerous reports have emerged of regime restrictions on international aid distribution and administrative barriers imposed on local volunteer aid delivery.47 The junta also hoarded aid, stockpiling perishable supplies at the Ministry of Social Welfare’s warehouse in Naypyidaw.48 At the same time, the regime’s brutal oppression continued unabated. 40 Reuters, ‘Rohingya in Bangladesh pray for release of arrested insurgent leader’ (20 March 2025) available at <https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/rohingya-bangladesh-pray-release-arrested-insurgent-leader-2025-03-20/> accessed 16 May 2025. 41 RFA (23 March 2025) op. cit. 42 UN Special Procedures, ‘UN expert calls for emergency Security Council action to address ceasefire violations after devastating Myanmar earthquake’ (10 April 2025) available at <https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/04/un-expertcalls-emergency-security-council-action-address-ceasefire> accessed 9 June 2025. 43 UNOCHA, ‘Myanmar: Earthquake Response Situation Report No. 5’ (4 May 2025) 1. 44 ‘Press Statement: Civil society calls for disaster relief for earthquake survivors and affected communities in Myanmar’ (30 March 2025) available at <https://brouk.org.uk/press-statement-civil-society-calls-for-disaster-relief-for-earthquakesurvivors-and-affected-communities-in-myanmar/> accessed 16 May 2025. 45 BROUK, ‘New Report: Preventable deaths in Cyclone Mocha and the Rohingya genocide’ (25 May 2023) available at <https://brouk.org.uk/new-report-preventable-deaths-in-cyclone-mocha-and-the-rohingya-genocide/> accessed 16 May 2025. 46 Frontier Myanmar, ‘‘We didn’t find anyone alive’: Earthquake buries the faithful at Sagaing religious sites’ (4 April 2025) available at <https://www.frontiermyanmar.net/en/we-didnt-find-anyone-alive-earthquake-buries-the-faithful-at-sagaingreligious-sites/> accessed 16 May 2025. 47 New York Times, ‘Already Ravaged by War, Myanmar Now Longs for Earthquake Relief’ (7 April 2025) available at <https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/world/asia/myanmar-earthquake-aid.html> and Frontier Myanmar, ‘New junta rules curb aid to Mandalay quake victims’ (11 April 2025) available at <https://www.frontiermyanmar.net/en/new-junta-rulescurb-aid-to-mandalay-quake-victims/> accessed 16 May 2025. 48 ABC, ‘Myanmar junta accused of hoarding aid as local groups scramble to respond to earthquake’ (30 April 2025), available at <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-30/myanmar-earthquake-survivors-battle-heat-hunger-and-themilitary/105231356> accessed 16 May 2025. 9