India navy delivers aid to quake-hit Myanmar

NEW DELHI: India’s navy on Saturday delivered hundreds of tonnes of food aid to earthquake-hit Myanmar, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met reclusive junta chief Min Aung Hlaing.

India was among the first countries to rush aid and rescue teams to its war-torn neighbour after a devastating 7.7-magnitude quake on March 28.

The death toll from the earthquake has risen to more than 3,300, Myanmar state media said Saturday.

More than one week after the disaster, desperate survivors remain without enough food and shelter.

The latest aid from India comprised 442 tonnes of food including rice, cooking oil, noodles and biscuits, the Indian embassy in Yangon said. The consignment arrived via an Indian navy ship, INS Gharial, at Thilawa port.

Myanmar quake death toll at 3,354, junta leader returns from summit

Modi held a rare face-to-face meeting on Friday with Min Aung Hlaing on the sidelines of the Bangkok BIMSTEC meeting – the grouping of the seven nations on the Bay of Bengal.

“India is doing whatever is possible to assist our sisters and brothers of Myanmar in this critical time,” Modi was quoted as saying in a government statement on Friday.

India’s foreign ministry said that Modi told the junta chief that there was “no military solution to the conflict”, and stressed the “importance of early restoration of a democratic process through inclusive and credible elections”.

Min Aung Hlaing’s armed forces have ruled Myanmar since a 2021 coup, when they wrested power from the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking a multi-sided conflict.

The junta leader had issued a rare appeal for international aid following the earthquake, indicating the severity of the crisis.

Previous military regimes in the country have shunned foreign assistance even after major natural disasters.

Sri Lanka also sent a medical team and a plane loaded with supplies, many funded by donations from Buddhist temples, to Myanmar, a defence official said.

Colombo has pledged more than $1 million to help quake victims in the fellow Buddhist nation.