CNI News
8 May 2025
People in earthquake-hit areas are more interested in creating job opportunities for them than in insurance compensation, U Aung Pyae Sone, a businessman, told CNI News.
Earthquake-affected people said that what workers really want is not so-called subsidies, but rather a solution to the current shortage of jobs and unemployment.
“There are hundreds of thousands of people who have been affected by the earthquake. We have affected hundreds of thousands of people in Sagaing, Mandalay, Nay Pyi Taw, Magway, Bago, and Yangon, so how much compensation will be given to workers’ compensation? 10,000, or 100,000, or 1,000,000 Kyats (ten hundred thousand)? We don't want compensation unless we know the amount. To be honest, I also asked the workers, whether they are my employees or other workers, what they need right now is not compensation. What they want is to help make their work more convenient and smooth during the current recovery period." he said.
U Aung Myint Myint pointed out that the government should also make arrangements to restore jobs for the grassroots.
Earthquake victims in Mandalay
"In such a situation, it is imperative that these workers be provided with another job or another industry so that they can return to work normally and find a way to make ends meet.Either the relevant Regional Government or the Ministry of Labor must take action. We first need to collect data on the number of workers who have become unemployed due to the earthquake. There is an urgent need to create job opportunities for these workers." he said.
The powerful earthquake that struck on March 28, 2025, caused damage in 10 Regions/States, including Naypyidaw Council, and affected 128,965 households and 629,206 people.
Of the more than 600,000 earthquake victims, 48,656 have been relocated to 135 relief camps, while 159,239 have relocated on their own. Despite suffering the earthquake, 421,311 people were still living in their homes, according to the DMC's April 23 tally.
While seeing a building that was about to collapse due to the earthquake
According to the preliminary list on April 24, 63,854 houses, 6,752 schools, 5,474 monasteries and nunneries, 5,342 pagodas, 613 other religious buildings, 576 hospitals/clinics, 56 railway sections, 271 road sections, 188 expressway sections, 586 dams/embankments, 172 bridges, and 353 transformers were damaged or destroyed in 10 Regions and States including Naypyidaw Council.
In the earthquake-hit Mandalay Region, small-scale industries, small-scale manufacturing, weaving and lacquerware industries, wholesale industries, border trade, and stone carving industries are being operated. Similarly, Sagaing Region also has value-added consumer goods and food products, and manufacturing industries that use raw materials from the region.
According to the Regional Small Scale Industries Department, there are 1,887 small scale industrialists in Sagaing Region with an investment of 3,182 million kyats and an annual production value of 23,756.239 million kyats.
