A 7.7 magnitude earthquake on the Richter scale hit Myanmar, Thailand and southern China. There are at least 153 dead and hundreds of injured.
“I told my children that we couldn’t stay there and we had to leave, so we went down. I’m still shaking.” This is just one of the reports of those who lived the 7.7 magnitude earthquake that hit Southeast Asia, this Friday morning. Sirinya Nakauta would be sleeping when the earthquake became greatly intense in Myanmar, Thailand and southern China: “I thought my head was spinning, stirred to see what was happening and things began to swing even more, so I ran to my children and wearing us under the table.”
The Portuguese Diogo Cunha, who has been on vacation in Thailand about a week ago, tells CNN Portugal that he was in his apartment, on the 25th floor of the hotel, when the earthquake took place. He reports that he saw the paintings and lamps fall against the “very strong shake”, leading him to go quickly to the corridor of that building. “People were panicked, running back and forth, with babies in their lap, some with dogs.” Panic, he says, “lasted about a minute” until the guests went down to the ground floor through the emergency stairs. “There were other people in the hotel courtyard, but I didn’t see many damage,” he describes. Only “some sloping poles and a slightly fallen tree.”
While sharing his experience, already in a period of greater calm, Diogo observes a “very chaotic” street and “completely full of cars”. “You can’t get a taxi, it’s impossible, you can only walk,” he says. The metro paralyzed, the stations were closed, but “gradually they are already starting to open things,” such as shops.
According to the United States Geological Service (USGS), quoted by Reuters agency, the earthquake – which had a depth of 10 kilometers, with an epicenter about 17.2 kilometers from Mandalay – made at least 153 dead, nine of which in Banguecoque, Thailand. 100 missing 100 were recorded in the Thai capital so far and declared catastrophe zone. The governor reports damage to many high buildings, although it is not yet possible to account for the total number. The airport continues to operate normally. The same service mentioned, in an impact -based estimate, which may be thousands of deadly victims.
About 12 minutes after the first earthquake, Myanmar was hit by a replica of magnitude 6.4 near the city of Sagaing. The most recent data of public television in that country reports at least 144 deaths and 732 injured.
The commander of the Carcavelos Voluntary Fire Department and São Domingos de Rana, Paulo Santos, considers that “the number of dead can increase exponentially” in the coming hours as the rescue and rescue operations are performed. Speaking to CNN Portugal, it also clarifies that the fact that there is a blockade to the internet in Myanmar, limits the updating of these numbers in real time.
Paulo Santos also explains that the priorities in the rescue of survivors and victims are first to evaluate structural damage and identify dangers, establish an operational command and finally start search and location operations. “It has to be all previously evaluated and then the eventual progression to the interior, is done through the shoring of these structures, creating small tunnels of access to the areas where there is a possibility of someone with life.” That is, “the first teams will not save anyone, will make a recognition of the situation,” he concludes. “And that can take days.”
However, the Portuguese government has already announced that it is following the incident, having no appointment of Portuguese affected, a source from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Lusa.
USGS, on the other hand, estimates that there may be “a great level of victims and extensive damage”, essentially in the Sagaing and Meiktila regions in Myanmar, due to the existence of vulnerable structures where part of the population resides. That country’s military junta chief, Min Aung Hlaing, called for “all countries, all organizations” that help the victims. The military in power in Myanmar have, however, launched an appeal to international aid.
The government of India has reported that it is prepared to send help to affected areas.
Speaking from Ranguum, the coordinator of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crossing Societies (FICV), Marie Manrique, confirmed the fall of the main bridge that connects Mandalay to Sagaing. “It will represent a great logistical challenge” to access the population of Sagaing, warned of a Videoconferencing with Geneva, Switzerland, quoted by the Spanish agency Efe.
Manrique explained that Sagaing is located in an area strongly affected by the internal conflict in ancient Burma, in which the army and several irregular armed groups have been involved in recent years. For this reason, the zone houses the largest number of people displaced in the country, he said. Manrique said there is also concern “with a large dam that is being monitored to evaluate his state.” “We are working with very limited information at this time. As we move forward, we will know more about the extension of damage.”
The earthquake was also felt intensely in various cities in the southern Chinese province of Yunnan, although so far the damage recorded have been uninjured, according to EFE.
