A/HRC/60/20 7. Natural disasters, including flooding and landslides caused by Typhoon Yagi in September 2024 and the earthquake that struck central Myanmar on 28 March 2025, compounded already widespread and systematic human rights violations in the context of armed conflict.3 In September 2024, over 440 people died in floods that displaced over one million across 70 townships, causing widespread devastation to communities, crops, farmland and livestock. In March 2025, the earthquake caused nearly 4,000 deaths across central Myanmar. Despite the destruction, the military – without taking precautions to protect civilians – persistently launched air strikes and heavy weapons in civilian-inhabited and earthquake-affected areas, despite its announcement of temporary ceasefires in April and May 2025 to allow for rescue operations. Military forces had reportedly launched over 550 attacks as at 31 May 2025 and open sources indicated that, since the earthquake, over 481 civilians had been killed in military attacks. Credible sources verified 285 civilian deaths. Emblematic of that trend was the launch by the military of an air strike on 15 April in Kanni village, Kawkareik Township, Kayin State, which severely damaged a Buddhist monastery, killing six civilians, including four children, and wounding over 20 others. In that and numerous other incidents, OHCHR found no information justifying the air strike. The military persisted4 in restricting humanitarian access to earthquake-affected communities in areas outside of their control and in ethnic minority areas. 8. Increased military reliance on air strikes continued to result in civilian casualties. 5 Credible sources indicated that nearly half of all verified civilian deaths occurring during the reporting period – 838 out of 1,811 civilians killed – were directly caused by aerial attacks. While 2024 was the deadliest year for civilians due to air strikes, with 642 verified deaths, by the end of May 2025, the total number of civilians killed had already surpassed the previous year’s total by more than 67 per cent. A comparative analysis of the available figures highlighted that aerial attacks had increased by 63 per cent in the second half of the reporting period, with 1,665 incidents compared with 1,057 incidents in the first half. 9. In another concerning development, the military began deploying armed paramotors, which are powered tricycle paragliders with the capacity to carry up to three passengers and 120 mm mortar rounds. The aerial vehicles, traditionally used in reconnaissance, have been increasingly used to launch attacks, operating virtually silently as pilots drop munitions from high elevations without any capacity for precision targeting. Since December 2024, open sources have reported about 137 such incidents, the vast majority in areas within range of airbases. Some 46 attacks occurred in areas affected by the earthquake. Several such attacks also occurred in Rakhine and Chin States. Although their claims have not yet been verified, media sources reported that at least 81 civilians, including 19 women and 7 children, had been killed after munitions dropped by paramotors struck markets, houses, monasteries, hospitals and schools. Exemplifying protection concerns, on 10 May, in Thone Pan Hla village, Chaung-U Township, Sagaing Region, a paramotor bombed a civilian residential area where no clashes were occurring, killing three civilians, including a 12-year-old boy and injuring a woman and a 5-year-old girl. B. Emblematic incidents 10. Among the numerous documented incidents, the report presents four that exemplify patterns relating to the protection of civilians and the daily fears that civilians faced throughout the country as homes, villages, schools and camps for displaced persons were systematically targeted. 1. Si Par village, Budalin Township, Sagaing Region 11. In the early hours of 17 October 2024, the military entered Si Par village as villagers prepared to celebrate a Buddhist holiday, prompting several residents to flee. Soldiers 3 Across Myanmar, 288 townships reported experiencing tremors of 4.0 or higher intensity on the Richter scale. 4 See A/HRC/53/52. 5 A/HRC/59/57, para. 54. 3