The number of dead by the earthquake in Myanmar has increased to 1,700 on Sunday (30), while foreign rescue and humanitarian aid teams go to the country, where hospitals are overloaded and some communities struggled to set up limited resource rescue efforts.
The 7.7 magnitude earthquake, one of the strongest in Myanmar in a century, shook the Southeast Asia nation on Friday (28), at least 3,400 people were injured and over 300 missing until Sunday, the military government said.
The chief of the board, senior min Aung Hlaing, warned that the number of fatalities could increase and that his administration faced a challenging situation, the state media said three days after he made a rare request 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.
“Destruction has been extensive, and humanitarian needs are growing every hour,” said the International Federation of Red Cross Societies and Red Crescent in a statement.
“With temperatures increasing and the rainfall season approaching in just a few weeks, there is an urgent need to stabilize affected communities before secondary seizures arise.”
Already in chaos due to a civil war that arose from a national revolt after a military coup in 2021 to overthrow the elected government of the Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.
Critical infrastructure – including bridges, highways, airports and railways – throughout the country of 55 million inhabitants is damaged, delaying humanitarian efforts while the conflict that hit the economy, has shifted more than 3.5 million people and debilitated the continuous health system.
In some areas near the epicenter, residents told Reuters that government assistance was scarce, letting people defend themselves alone.
“It is necessary to restore transportation routes as soon as possible,” Min Aung Hlaing told authorities on Saturday (29), 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 and that losses can exceed the annual economic production of the country.
Rescues continue
Hospitals in part of the center and northwest of Myanmar, including the second largest city, Mandalay, and the capital Naipitau, were struggling to deal with a flow of injuries, the UN office said to coordinate humanitarian affairs on Saturday night.
The earthquake also shook parts of neighboring Thailand, overthrowing a skyscraper under construction and killing 18 people in the capital, according to Thai authorities.
At least 76 people remained trapped, where rescue operations continued for the third day, using drones and sniffer dogs to seek survivors.
The Government of National Opposition unit, which includes remnants of the previous administration, said the anti-marine militias under their command would suspend all offensive military actions for two weeks from this Sunday (30).
