The toll of the Myanmar earthquake continued to increase on Sunday, while foreign rescue teams and help rushed into the impoverished country, where hospitals were overwhelmed and some communities rushed to mount rescue efforts with limited resources.
The earthquake of magnitude 7.7, one of the strongest of Myanmar in a century, shook the nation of Southeast Asia devastated by the war on Friday, leaving some 1,700 people dead, 3,400 wounds and more than 300 missing until Sunday, the military government said.
The Chief of the Board, General Senior Min Cong Hlaing, warned that the number of deaths could increase and his administration faced a challenging situation, state media reported, three days after he made a rare call for international assistance.
India, China and Thailand are among the residents of Myanmar who have sent help and equipment materials, along with help and personnel from Malaysia, Singapore and Russia.
“Destruction has been extensive, and humanitarian needs are growing per hour,” said the International Federation of Red Cross Societies and Red Crescent in a statement.
“With the increase in temperatures and the monsoon season approaching in just weeks, there is an urgent need to stabilize the affected communities before secondary crises arise.”
The United States promised $ 2 million in help “through Myanmar Humanitarian Humanitarian Assistance Organizations” and said in a statement that an emergency response equipment of USAID, which is experiencing mass cuts under the Trump administration, is being displayed in Myanmar.
The devastation has accumulated more misery in Myanmar, already in the chaos of a civil war that arose from a national uprising after a 2021 military coup overthrown to the elected government of the Nobel Prize of the Peace Award SAN SUU KYI.
The critical infrastructure, including bridges, roads, airports and railways, throughout the country of 55 million is damaged, reducing humanitarian efforts, while the conflict that the economy has mistreated, displaced more than 3.5 million people and weakened the health system.
In some areas close to the epicenter, residents said Reuters That government assistance was scarce, leaving people to value themselves.
“It is necessary to restore transport routes as soon as possible,” Min Hlaing Hlaing told officials on Saturday, according to state media. “It is necessary to fix the railroads and also reopen airports so that rescue operations are more effective.”
The predictive modeling of the United States Geological Service estimated that Myanmar’s deaths could eventually exceed 10,000 and losses could exceed the country’s annual economic production.
‘Without help, without rescue workers’
The hospitals in parts of the center and northwest of Myanmar, including the second largest city, Mandalay and the capital Naypyitaw, were struggling to deal with an influx of injured people, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Saturday afternoon.
The earthquake also shook parts of neighboring Thailand, knocking down a skyscraper under construction and killing 18 people throughout the capital, according to Thai authorities.
At least 76 people remained trapped under the rubble of the Bangkok collapsed building, where rescue operations continued for a third day, using drones and tracker dogs to look for survivors.
The Government of National Unity of the opposition of Myanmar, which includes remains of the previous administration, said that the anti-junction militias would pause all offensive military actions for two weeks from Sunday.
The devastation in some areas of Alto Myanmar, such as the city of Sagaing near the Epicenter of the earthquake, was extensive, said the resident Han Zin.
“What we are seeing here is a widespread destruction: many buildings have collapsed on the ground,” he said on the phone, adding that much of the city had been without electricity since the disaster hit and the drinking water was running out.
“We have not received help, and there are no rescue workers in sight.”
Sections of an important bridge were shown that connects the saga to the images of Mandalay, collapsed and satellite, with the sections of the structure of the colonial era submerged in the Irrawaddy River.
“With the destroyed bridges, even Mandalay’s help is struggling to pass,” said a political association of Sagaing Hluttaw, a political association linked to the NUG.
“Food and medicine are not available, and the growing number of victims is overwhelming the small local hospital, which lacks the ability to treat all patients.”
‘Can you hear me?’
In Mandalay, it was feared that dozens of people trapped under collapsed buildings and most could not be achieved without heavy machinery, two humanitarian workers and two residents said.
“My teams in Mandalay are using work gloves, ropes and basic kits to dig and recover people,” said one of the humanitarian workers. Reuters It does not name them due to security concerns.
“There are innumerable trapped and still missing. The death toll is impossible to count at this time due to the number trapped and unidentified, if you are alive.”
A video filmed by a Mandalay resident on Saturday and shared with Reuters They showed patients in beds, some attached to dripping, on the grounds outside an orthopedic hospital of 500 beds in the city.
According to the World Health Organization, public and private health centers in Mandalay, including the General Hospital of Mandalay and parts of the Médica de Mandalay University, were damaged by the earthquake.
Russian and Indian rescue workers were heading to Mandalay, and multiple Chinese rescue, Thai and Singapur personnel have also arrived in the country.
In Bangkok, at the 33 -story collapsed building site, rescuers surrounded by shattered concrete batteries and twisted metal continued their efforts to rescue dozens of workers trapped under the rubble.
Teerasak Thongmo, a commander of the Thai police, said that his team of police and rescue dogs was running against the time to locate the survivors, struggling to move around the metal rubble and sharp edges in an unstable structure.
“At this time, our team is trying to find someone who can still be alive. Within the first 72 hours, we have to try to save them even alive,” he said.
Near the rescue operations, the relatives and friends of the disappeared and trapped construction workers waited news. Some broke.
“Tloy, Tloy, Tloy, my daughter, now I’m here for you!” A woman cried, since she was hugged by two. “Tloy, can you hear me for you?”
