Approximately 85 percent of houses have been destroyed in the affected areas. And with the monsoon season approaching, the urgency is even greater, threatening to compound the suffering of already devastated survivors.

In the face of such immense devastation, one would expect a coordinated, compassionate humanitarian response. Yet, the Myanmar military junta has turned this natural disaster into another front in its campaign of repression.

Reports indicate that the junta has obstructed international aid, enforced curfews that hinder rescue efforts and continued military airstrikes, even in quake-affected zones.

While foreign governments have extended support through emergency funding, rescue teams and life-saving supplies, these efforts are being choked by the military’s tight grip on aid distribution.

In Myanmar’s darkest moments, it has often been local civil society, ethnic organizations and religious institutions that step up, as seen during the deadly Cyclone Nargis in 2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic between 2020 and 2023. Today, they are once again among the few reliable sources of relief for desperate communities.

However, they also have been systematically blocked.

Adding to the crisis, the junta has barred foreign media and restricted local journalists from accessing affected regions. This deliberate suppression of information raises questions about the junta’s transparency and accountability and conceals the true scale of the disaster and cripples the global response. Silencing those trying to document and communicate the tragedy is an attempt to control the narrative while people suffer in silence.

The military’s suppression of information is cruel. It constitutes a grave violation of the right to life and access to information. It denies people the chance to survive. It turns silence into suffering. It kills.

Compounding the catastrophe is the junta’s continued imposition of internet blackouts and communication restrictions across the most affected regions. More than 48 hours after the quake, connectivity remained down in many areas.

Amid a humanitarian emergency, this is not negligence, it is a calculated act of harm. Connectivity is not a luxury in such moments. It is a lifeline: for survivors trying to call for help, for responders coordinating rescues and for communities desperately seeking updates to protect themselves.

The junta, however, has chosen to deepen the silence. Social media platforms, independent news websites and VPN access remain blocked under a nationwide firewall introduced in 2024. This ongoing digital repression suffocates not only information but the very possibility of coordinated relief. It is a censorship weaponized against survival.

Since the coup, internet shutdowns have impacted over 100 townships, nearly a third of the country. Journalists have been arrested, killed and silenced. Independent media outlets have been shuttered. Today, in the face of a humanitarian disaster, these policies are not just oppressive, they are actively contributing to preventable deaths.

This is not merely a communications issue. It is a humanitarian emergency. The junta’s deliberate censorship during a national tragedy reveals a government more concerned with control than the survival of its people.

No ceasefire can conceal that reality. The regime’s refusal to restore digital access is a gross dereliction of responsibility and an affront to human dignity.

The international community must respond with urgency and clarity. Governments, United Nations agencies, humanitarian organizations and technology companies must pressure the junta to restore full internet access and end digital censorship.

Emergency relief must include connectivity solutions to bypass the blackout and empower local responders. Crucially, any aid or infrastructure must be safeguarded from being exploited by the military as tools of control.

In this context, the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) issued a press statement on April 2, underlining that all emergency response efforts must be grounded in human rights. The AICHR emphasized the importance of distributing humanitarian assistance equitably to all affected communities and areas, without discrimination or disruption. 

Upholding the principles of impartiality, humanity, neutrality and independence is not optional, it is essential. The statement also reminded stakeholders that human rights must remain central to every aspect of disaster response, even in complex political environments.

On April 2, the junta declared a temporary ceasefire to facilitate relief and reconstruction efforts, a rare move for a regime that has waged relentless war on its own people since seizing power in 2021.

The ceasefire, set to last until April 22, has been welcomed with cautious relief. Yet it remains deeply inadequate. For while the guns may be temporarily silent, the regime’s most insidious form of warfare, information blackouts, continues unabated.

A ceasefire that denies access to information is neither genuine nor adequate. The restoration of fundamental rights, communication, press freedom and humanitarian access, must be non-negotiable conditions of any peace effort.

Myanmar is not only reeling from the deadliest earthquake in its history, it is also enduring the compounded trauma of over four years of systematic violence, displacement and humanitarian neglect. Its people are suffocating under a regime that weaponizes silence in the face of suffering.

Symbolic gestures are no longer enough. The junta must be compelled to restore connectivity, end censorship and let the people be seen, heard and saved. The people of Myanmar need principled solidarity.

Let the light in, end the blackout.

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The writer is executive director of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR). The views expressed are personal.