The devastation he has left in the country has not stopped the civil war in Myanmar. The Government of National Unity (NUG), formed by politicians and prodemocratic activists contrary to the Military Board in power, affirms that the Tatmadaw (the army) has resumed bombings against some peoples in the hands of opposition militias. To face the disaster and facilitate the arrival of help, the NUG has declared a high unilateral fire on the areas affected by the powerful tremor – the military board has not spoken about it. The earthquake is the deadliest natural disaster that has hit ancient Burma in a century. Waiting for official figures to be updated this Sunday, the balance balance amounts to at least 1,644 deaths, 3,408 injured and 139 missing. The UN has warned this morning that the serious shortage of medical supplies hinders the response to the catastrophe.
Despite the growing need to intensify rescue work in Myanmar, the spiral of violence has not stopped in the country, one of the poorest in Asia. “We ask all ethnic groups and citizens to actively cooperate with the NUG and revolutionary forces in the provision of comprehensive rescue and relief aid to the victims of the earthquake,” the opposition has requested the opposition to the Military Board in a statement to which this newspaper has had access. This organization declares the legitimate authority of Myanmar in the semi -lundestinity.
The ancient Burma (about 54 million inhabitants) has mired in the deepest political, economic and social chaos from the 2021 coup d’etat. Approximately half of the territory is now in the hands of a mosaic of opposing groups to the Board led by General Min Min Hlaing, which deposed the democratic government of the Nobel Peace Prize Aung San Suu Kyi. The Tatmadaw, meanwhile, has strengthened its presence in big cities. The UN estimated before the earthquake that the conflict had left almost 20 million people without food or refuge.
After the unusual request of General Min Cong Hlaing for help to the international community on Friday, some citizens cited by independent means awaited a respite to the civil war, which lasts four years. But it has not been so. NUG sources have assured this newspaper that on Saturday afternoon aircraft of the Military Board continued the bombings in the state of Shan and in the Sagaing region, both affected by the earthquake.
The little official information that leaves Myanmar contrasts with the data provided by Thailand on the consequences of the earthquake in its territory. The strong jolt reached Bangkok, the capital, more than 1,000 kilometers away. There all the attention is put in the operation to save the 15 people that are believed to continue trapped alive under the rubble of a skyscraper that was under construction and that collapsed as a castle of cards at the time of the shake. This Sunday, the Metropolitan Government has confirmed the death of 17 people in the city. The majority of the victims were workers who worked in the building of the aforementioned 33 plants property. The authorities have opened an investigation into the collapse. According to the last official figure, there are also 32 injured and 83 missing.
In Myanmar, military authorities have kept the country practically isolated from the world since the assonated. However, on Saturday they allowed the entry of hundreds of foreign rescuers. The UN Humanitarian Affairs Coordination Office (OCHA) warns that operations have been hindered by huge damage to roads and infrastructure.
“The damage to the highway that connects Yangon, Naipyidó and Mandalay have caused interruptions in the service, with cracks and unevenness on the road that have forced to suspend the operations of the bus,” the ocha reported in a statement. This agency has also confirmed that hospitals in the center and northwest of Myanmar (the most affected area after the earthquake) have difficulties to attend to the flood of injured.
Federica Franco, director of the Mission of Doctors Without Borders in the country, has also said that the situation is “very complicated” for rescue teams because “there are important communication cuts.” The United Nations Rapporteur for Myanmar, Tom Andrews, has warned that the min minute regime Hlaing – on the one who weighs an arrest warrant of the International Criminal Court – uses the help as “weapon” and has asked to channel it through the democratic opposition and the rebel groups.
A team of Chinese rescuers is already in Burmese territory. Russia, Malaysia and Singapore have also sent planes loaded with supplies and personnel, and from India have left several ships with 40 tons of humanitarian aid. In addition, it is planned that today 17 ocha trucks arrive with medical and refuge supplies to deal with the current shortage of medicines, anesthetics and emergency blood reserves.
Satellite images published by Maxar Technologies have revealed the level of destruction in Sagaing, 16 kilometers from the epicenter, and in Mandalay, the second largest city in the country, already 17.2 kilometers of the earthquake nucleus. It is in the latter that it is expected that the ravages of the tragedy will be greater. The photos, captured on Saturday, show damage to pagodas, temples and residential buildings, in addition to the Sagaing bridge, which collapsed over the Irrawaddy River. The NUG indicated in an initial evaluation that at least 2,900 buildings, 30 roads and seven bridges have suffered damage.
For the second consecutive night, thousands of people have slept outdoors in different parts of the nation, fearful of another tremor. The doctors of one of the main hospitals in the capital, Naipyidó, have also been forced to treat their patients on the street, collects the regional BBC service.
A projection of the United States Geological Service (USGS) estimates that the death taught could exceed 10,000, and that material losses could exceed the country’s annual economic production. Kyi Minn, director of the NGO World Vision Myanmar, estimates that “will have been reconstructing some of the most affected areas.
