Myanmar Quake Toll Passes 1,000 As Rescuers Dig For Survivors

On Saturday, as rescuers searched through the rubble of collapsed buildings in a desperate search for survivors, the death toll from a massive earthquake that affected Myanmar and Thailand reached 1, 000.

Northwest of the city of Sagaing in central Myanmar was struck by a shallow 7.7-magnitude earthquake in the early afternoon, followed shortly thereafter by a 6.7%-magnitude aftershock.

Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city and home to more than 1.7 million people, saw the most extensive destruction caused by the earthquake, which destroyed buildings, downed bridges, and buckled roads across large areas of Myanmar.

Thar Aye, 68, a Mandalay resident, said, “We need assistance.” We don’t have enough of what, they say.

According to a statement from the junta, at least 1, 007 people were killed in Myanmar, and nearly 2,400 were hurt, with 30 more missing. In Bangkok, about 10 more deaths have been confirmed.

The true scope of the disaster is only beginning to emerge from the military-ruled state, and the toll is anticipated to significantly increase, given the severely hampered communications.

A Red Cross official told AFP on Saturday that more than 90 people might be trapped inside one Mandalay apartment block’s crushed remains.

At the Sky Villa Condominium development, where several of the building’s 12 storeys were stacked on top of each other, rescuers attempted to free the victims.

“Started shaking,”

Geologists believe this was the largest earthquake to strike Myanmar in decades, and the tremors were so severe that Bangkok’s downtown buildings were ruined by the earthquake’s magnitude.

A centuries-old Buddhist pagoda was reduced to rubble in Mandalay, where AFP journalists witnessed it.

A soldier sat at a checkpoint outside the pagoda and said, “It started shaking, then it started getting serious.”

“The monastery also sank,” he added. We pulled some people out and took them to the hospital after one monk died, and some others were hurt.

Journalists were turned away by security at Mandalay Airport.

One person claimed that “it has been closed since yesterday.” No one was hurt when the ceiling collapsed.

In a nation whose rescue efforts and healthcare system have already been ravaged by a military coup in 2021, damage to the airport would make things difficult.

Rare junta requests for assistance

On Friday, Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing made an unusually rare request for international aid, demonstrating the severity of the calamity. Even after significant natural disasters, previous military administrations have avoided receiving foreign aid.

After the earthquake, the nation declared a state of emergency across the six worst-affected regions, and on Friday, doctors were forced to treat the injured in the hospital’s Naypyidaw, one of the largest cities.

President Donald Trump pledged US assistance on Friday, prompting the introduction of foreign aid offers.

On Saturday, an initial flight from India arriving in Yangon, which would have flown with supplies for hygiene kits, blankets, food, and other necessities.

An 82-person team of rescuers from China went to Myanmar, according to China.

Myanmar is unprepared to deal with a catastrophe of this magnitude, according to international aid organizations. Before the earthquake struck, about 3.5 million people were forced to relocate as a result of the raging civil war, many of whom were already in danger of dying.

Building in Bangkok fell to pieces.

Rescuers searched through the night in Bangkok for survivors trapped in a 30-story skyscraper under construction that had collapsed and was quickly reduced to a pile of rubble and twisted metal as a result of the shaking.

According to Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt, around 10 people have died in the city’s skyscraper collapse, the majority of them in the collapse.

Up to 100 workers were still missing at the building, which is located close to the tourist-friendly Chatuchak weekend market.

Authorities believe they have seen at least 15 people’s thermal imaging drones as they searched the rubble for signs of life.

After receiving over 2, 000 reports of damage, Bangkok city authorities announced that they will send more than 100 engineers to check the safety of buildings.

Up to 400 people were forced to spend the night outside in city parks because it was unsafe to go back to their homes, according to Chadchart.

Bangkok’s shaking caused some dramatic images of rooftop swimming pools slosh their contents down the side of many of the city’s tall apartment blocks and hotels, despite the fact that there was no widespread destruction.

Source: Channels TV