Taiwan disbands standby rescue team to help Myanmar after earthquake

Taipei, March 31 (CNA) Interior Minister Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) on Monday said the government has disbanded a Taiwanese rescue team that was on standby to possibly travel to Myanmar after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the country on Friday afternoon.

Liu told reporters in Taipei that the ministry made the decision after considering the continued military conflict between Myanmar's military junta and local rebel groups in the Southeast Asian country over the past few days despite the strong earthquake.

“We cannot guarantee the safety of our rescue team members once they are sent there,” Liu told reporters on the sideline of a Legislative session.

As a result, the ministry decided to take team members off standby and allow them to return to their regular operations in Taiwan, Liu added.

International media reports said Myanmar’s military junta has continued to bomb parts of the war-torn country following the major earthquake there, which has so far reportedly killed more than 1,700 people.

The United Nations has described the attacks as "completely outrageous and unacceptable."

Liu made the comments when asked about the ministry’s decision to disband the rescue team, which had been on standby since late Friday, after learning of the strong earthquake that struck Myanmar at 12:50 p.m. that day.

After the earthquake was reported the National Fire Agency (NFA) under the Ministry of the Interior established an ad hoc rescue team of 126 people, made up of rescuers from fire departments in southern Pingtung County and northern Taoyuan.

Other than rescue personnel, the team also had six doctors, seven nurses, two veterinarians, six search and rescue dogs, two structural engineers and has 15 tons of equipment, the agency said in a statement.

A separate NFA press release issued late Sunday said it had learned that a total of 13 international rescue teams have been deployed to help with post disaster rescue and relief work in Myanmar.

NFA said the number of rescuers is currently sufficient to meet the rescue needs there so the Taiwanese rescue team is no longer needed for the time being.

Both President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) and Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) expressed concern over the natural disaster, and pledged that Taiwan’s rescue team would be ready to respond if asked to assist.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it reached out to the government in both Myanmar and Thailand, but so far the two countries have yet to say they need help from Taiwan.

In related news, several Myanmar nationals currently in Taiwan told CNA that they do not understand why their government would not accept assistance from Taiwanese rescue teams known for their post-earthquake rescue expertise.

One of them, an unnamed graduate student studying at National Chi Nan University in Nantou County, said Myanmar is desperately in need of all the help it can get right now.

Some of her friends in Myanmar told her that due to the lack of rescuers, many people have died trapped in collapsed buildings.

Another two Myanmar students, identified only as 20-year-old "Vina" and 25 year-old "BB," told CNA that Myanmar's military government has close relations with the Chinese government.

Therefore it is highly unlikely it would accept Taiwanese rescuers offer of assistance since China sees Taiwan as part of its territory, they said.

The largest earthquake to hit the Southeast Asian country in more than a century has so far left more than 1,700 dead, according to local authorities.

Experts expect that number to rise substantially in the weeks to come after the rubble from damaged buildings is cleared.