Japan rebuts criticism of its response to Myanmar earthquake rescue

Japan is pushing back against criticism over the timing of its earthquake relief response in Myanmar after an emergency team set out from Tokyo and arrived days after its counterparts from China and Russia – beyond what is generally viewed as the critical 72-hour window for rescuing survivors.

The 32-member disaster relief unit – comprising doctors, nurses and pharmacists – left the Japanese capital on Tuesday evening and arrived in Myanmar the next day.

The mission came nearly five days after the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that devastated central Myanmar, killing more than 3,100 people, injuring 4,000 and leaving several hundred missing.

An April 3 editorial in the conservative Sankei newspaper was headlined “Speed up aid to Myanmar,” while a report in the equally right-leaning Yomiuri the same day stated that Japan “is playing catchup with Chinese, Russian aid.”

An official with the National Institute of Defence Studies, which is affiliated with Japan’s defence ministry, said the delay was partly due to Tokyo’s more complex decision-making process and limited diplomatic clout compared with Beijing and Moscow.

“Compared with Japan, Russia and China have much closer contact and ties with Myanmar, so it was much easier for those countries to send help at short notice,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.