Number of dead reaches 1,700 amid the race for help

The number of victims of the earthquake in Myanmar He continued to climb on Sunday (30), while foreign rescue and help teams arrived in the impoverished country, where hospitals were overloaded and communities struggled to set up rescue efforts with limited resources.

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O 7.7 magnitude earthquakeone of the strongest in a century in Myanmar, reached the nation of southeastern Asia devastated by war on Friday (28), leaving about 1,700 dead, 3,400 injured and more than 300 missing Until Sunday, according to the military government.

The chief of the board, senior min Aung Hlaing, warned that the number of deaths could increase and that his administration faced a challenging situation, reported the state media three days after he rarely appeal for international assistance.

India, China and Thailand are among the neighbors of Myanmar who sent help materials and teams, along with the help and staff of Malaysia, Singapore and Russia.

“With the temperatures rising and the season of monsoons approaching in just a few weeks, there is an urgent need to stabilize affected communities before secondary seizures emerge,” the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crossing Societies, continued.

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The devastation brought more misery to Myanmar, which is already in chaos due to a civil war which arose from a national revolt after a 2021 military coup that deposed the elected Laureate government with the Nobel Peace Prize, Aung San Suu Kyi.

Critical infrastructure – including bridges, highways, airports and railways – across the country of 55 million inhabitants are damaged, making humanitarian efforts, while the conflict that devastated the economy, shifted more than 3.5 million people and weakened the health system continues.

In some areas near the epicenter, residents told Reuters that government assistance was scarce, leaving people to their own luck.

“It is necessary to restore transportation routes as soon as possible,” said Min Aung Hlaing to officers 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 US geological service estimated that the number of dead in Myanmar could exceed 10,000 and that losses could exceed the annual economic production of the country.

Rescue and relief workers are missing in Myanmar

Hospitals in part of the center and northwest of Myanmar, including the second largest city, Mandalay, and the capital Nayphitaw, were struggling to deal with an influx of wounded people, the United Nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs on Saturday night.

The earthquake also shook parts of the Thailand Neighboring, knocking a skyscraper under construction and killing 18 people in the capital, according to Thai authorities.

At least 76 people remain trapped under the rubble of the collapsed building, where rescue operations continued for a third day, using drones and sniffer dogs to look for survivors.

The Government of National Opposition Unit, which includes remnants of the previous administration, said the anti-marine militias under their command would pause all offensive military actions for two weeks from Sunday.

The devastation in some areas of northern Myanmar, such as the city of Sagaing, near the earthquake epicenter, was extensive, resident Han Zin said.

“What we are seeing here is widespread destruction – many buildings have crumbly,” he said by telephone, adding that much of the city was without electricity since the disaster occurred and that drinking water was running out.

“We have not received help and there are no rescue workers in sight.”

Sections of an important bridge that connects Sagaing to Mandalay collapsed, showed satellite images, with parts of the structure of the colonial era submerged on the Irrawaddy river.

“With the bridges destroyed, even Mandalay’s help is having difficulty arriving,” said Federal Sagaing Unit Hluttaw, a political association linked to Nug on Facebook.

“Food and medicines are unavailable, and the growing number of victims is overloading the small local hospital, which is unable to treat all patients.”

Service to the victims of the earthquake is precarious

In Mandalay, dozens of people feared being trapped under collapsed buildings and most could not be reached or removed without heavy machinery, two humanitarian workers and two residents said.

“My teams in Mandalay are wearing gloves, ropes and basic kits to dig and rescue people,” said one of the humanitarian workers. Reuters maintains his anonymity for security concerns.

“There are countless people arrested and still missing. The number of dead is impossible to count at the moment due to the number of people arrested and unidentified if they are still alive.”

A video filmed by a Mandalay resident on Saturday and shared with Reuters showed beds in beds, some connected to serum, on the land of a 500 -bed orthopedic hospital in the city.

Public and private health facilities in Mandalay, including the Mandalay General Hospital and parts of the Mandalay Medical University, were damaged by the earthquake, according to the World Health Organization.

Russian and Indian rescue workers were on their way to Mandalay, and several rescue staff from China, Thailand and Singapore also arrived in the country.

In Bangkok, at the venue of the 33 -story building that collapsed, the rescuers surrounded by broken concrete and twisted metal piles continued their efforts to rescue dozens of workers trapped under the rubble.

Teerasak Thongmo, a Thai police commander, said his team of police and rescue dogs was running over time to locate survivors, struggling to move between metal wreckage and sharp edges in an unstable structure.

Near the rescue operations, relatives and friends of the missing construction workers and prisoners awaited news. Some collapsed.

“Ploy, Ploy, Ploy, my daughter, I’m here for you now!” He shouted a woman while hugging two others. “Ploy, can you hear me by calling for you?”

(Report from Bangkok, Shoon Naing and Wa Lone; Devjyot Ghoshal Writing;