• 2,900 buildings, 30 roads, seven damaged bridges, says the opposition
• China, India sends help; Russia, Malaysia, USA, Singapore, South Korea not far away
• Authorities in Bangkok fight to find trapped workers under debris
Bangkok: Myanmar’s military rulers let out hundreds of foreign rescue personnel on Saturday after an earthquake killed more than 1,600 people, the most fatal natural disaster to hit the country impoverished and devastated by war in years.
The earthquake of magnitude 7.7 on Friday, among the largest to shake the nation of Southeast Asia in the last century, paralyzed airports, bridges and roads in the middle of a civil war that has destroyed the economy and displaced millions.
The death toll in Myanmar rose to 1,644, said the military government on Saturday, according to BBC Burmano news service.
In neighboring Thailand, where the earthquake shook the buildings and knocked down a skyscraper under construction in the capital of Bangkok, at least nine people were killed.
The survivors in Mandalay, the second largest city in Myanmar, dug with their naked hands on Friday in desperate attempts to save those who are still trapped, without heavy machinery and with the absent authorities.
In Bangkok on Saturday, rescue operations continued at the 33 -story tower collapse site, where 47 people were missing or trapped under the rubble, including Myanmar workers.
The predictive modeling of the United States geological service estimated that the number of Deaths of Myanmar could exceed 10,000 and losses could exceed the country’s annual economic production.
A day after making a rare call for international assistance, the Chief of the Junta de Myanmar, General Senior Min Cong Hlaing, traveled to Mandalay, affected, near the epicenter of the earthquake, which brought buildings and caused fires in some areas.
“The president of the State Board of Directors instructed the authorities to accelerate the search and rescue efforts and address any urgent need,” said the Board in a statement on state media, referring to Min Aung Hlaing.
Closed airports
An initial evaluation by the Government of National Unity of the opposition of Myanmar said that at least 2,900 buildings, 30 roads and seven bridges had been damaged by the earthquake.
“Due to significant damage, Naypyitaw and Mandalay’s international airports are temporarily closed,” said the NUG, which includes remains of the elected civil government overthrown by the military in a 2021 coup d’etat that triggered the civil war.
The control tower at the Naypyitaw airport, the specially designed capital city of Myanmar, collapsed, which makes it inoperable, a person with knowledge of the situation told him Reuters.
A Myanmar Board spokesman did not respond to the calls looking for comments.
A Chinese rescue team arrived at the airport of the commercial capital of Myanmar, Yangon, hundreds of kilometers from Mandalay and Naypyitaw, and will travel in the country by bus, state media said.
The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, spoke on the phone with the Chief of the Board, said the China Embassy in Myanmar on Saturday. Beijing would provide a value of value of $ 13.77 million, including tents, blaits and emergency medical kits.
The United States, which has an irritable relationship with Myanmar’s army and has sanctioned its officials, including Min Conit Hlaing, has said it would provide assistance.
India’s help supplies in a military plane also landed in Yangon, according to the state media of Myanmar, and the government of India said that it was also sending ships with 40 tons of humanitarian aid.
Russia, Malaysia and Singapore were also sending planes of help and personnel supplies.
The Asian Southeast Nations Association, a block of 10 countries that includes Myanmar, said he recognized the urgent need for humanitarian assistance. “ASEAN is ready to support help and recovery efforts,” the group said a statement.
South Korea said it would provide initial $ 2 million in humanitarian aid to Myanmar through international organizations.
There is no help to come
Residents in the most affected areas are desperate for help.
The earthquake, which hit the time of lunch on Friday, affected large strips of Myanmar, from the central plains around Mandalay to Shan hills in the east, of which they are not completely under the control of the Board.
Rescue operations in Mandalay could not match the disaster scale, said a resident by phone, asking not to be appointed due to security concerns.
“Many people are trapped, but there is no help to come simply because there is no labor, equipment or vehicles,” he said.
In Bangkok, 1,000 km from the epicenter, the authorities advanced on Saturday with efforts to find construction workers trapped under the rubble of the collapsed tower, using excavators, drones and search and rescue dogs.
The viceprimer Minister of Thailand, Anutin Charnvirakul, said that all possible resources had been deployed to seek survivors and to get bodies out of the deceased.
“We always have hope,” he told reporters. “We are still working 24 hours.”
Chanpen Kaewnoi, 39, said he hastened on Friday afternoon after watching news reports that the subventive construction building where his mother and younger sister were working had collapsed.
“I called my sister, but it doesn’t matter how many times I tried to call her, there was no connection,” he said after an insomnia night on the site.
“I want to wait for my mother and sister,” said Chanpen, a construction worker, “I want to see their faces again.”
On the other side of the extensive metropolis, where such earthquakes are rare, there may be up to 5,000 damaged buildings, including residential towers, said Ank Siripanichgorn, a member of the Board of the Thailand Engineers Council, which is helping the municipal authorities.
“We are going through hundreds of cases,” he said.
“If we see cases in which there is a potential danger, we will immediately send engineers.”
Posted in Dawn, March 30, 2025
