Pittsburgh nonprofit working to help Myanmar earthquake survivors

A Pittsburgh-based relief organization is among those trying to assist survivors of the earthquake in Myanmar that’s left more than 2,000 people dead.

The quake could exacerbate hunger and disease outbreaks in a country that was already one of the world’s most challenging places for humanitarian organizations to operate because of civil war, aid groups and the United Nations warned.

The 7.7 magnitude quake hit Friday, with the epicenter near Myanmar’s second-largest city of Mandalay. It damaged the city’s airport, buckled roads and collapsed hundreds of buildings along a wide swath down the country’s center.

Relief efforts are further hampered by power outages, fuel shortages and spotty communications. A lack of heavy machinery has slowed search-and-rescue operations, forcing many to search for survivors by hand in daily temperatures above 104 degrees.

Ozzy Samad, president of North Side-based Brother’s Brother Foundation, said the group is working to find out the best place to ship its relief supplies.

Brother’s Brother volunteers have assembled hygiene kits and blankets for the relief efforts. Those are among the things that are useful to people during natural disasters like the quake, Samad said.

Myanmar state MRTV reported that the leader of the military government, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, told Pakistan’s prime minister during a call that 2,065 people were killed, with more than 3,900 injured and about 270 missing, The Associated Press reported.

Relief agencies expect those numbers to rise sharply, since access is slow to remote areas where communications are down.

The United Nations’ Myanmar country team called for unimpeded access for aid teams.

“Even before this earthquake, nearly 20 million people in Myanmar were in need of humanitarian assistance,” said Marcoluigi Corsi, the U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator.

Brother’s Brother also has first aid kits and medical supplies that can be used in the relief efforts, Samad said.

The challenge is finding a way to get the items to the people who need them, Samad said.

“We’re looking at ways to ship them,” he said.

The best way for people in the region to help is to donate cash to Brother’s Brother, Samad said. People can also volunteer to assemble the first aid and hygiene kits at the foundation’s North Side offices.

For more information, visit the group’s website here.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.