Aid groups in Myanmar yesterday described scenes of devastation and desperation after an earthquake that killed more than 2,700 people, stressing an urgent need for food, water and shelter and warning the window to find survivors was fast closing.
Myanmar’s military ruler Min Aung Hlaing said the death toll from Friday’s 7.7 magnitude quake was expected to surpass 3,000, having reached 2,719 as of yesterday, with 4,521 people injured, and 441 missing.
“Among the missing, most are assumed to be dead. There is a narrow chance for them to remain alive,” he said in a speech.
The quake, which struck at lunchtime on Friday, was the strongest to hit the Southeast Asian country in more than a century, toppling ancient pagodas and modern buildings alike.
It inflicted significant damage on Myanmar’s second city Mandalay and Naypyitaw, the capital the previous junta purpose-built to be an impregnable fortress.
The earthquake was the latest in a succession of blows for the impoverished country of 53 million people following a 2021 coup that returned the military to power.
The death toll rose to 21 in neighbouring Thailand yesterday, where the quake caused damage to hundreds of buildings. Rescuers pressed on searching for life in the rubble of a collapsed skyscraper under construction in the capital Bangkok, but acknowledged time was against them.
In Myanmar, UN agencies said hospitals were overwhelmed and rescue efforts hindered by infrastructure damage and the civil war. Rebels have accused the military of conducting air strikes even after the quake and yesterday a major rebel alliance declared a unilateral ceasefire to help relief efforts.
Aid groups raised the alarm over a lack of food, water and sanitation and the region was hit by five more aftershocks.
Julia Rees, of the UN children’s agency Unicef, who just returned from one of the worst-affected areas near the epicentre in central Myanmar, said entire communities had been flattened and destruction and psychological trauma was immense.
“And yet, this crisis is still unfolding. The tremors are continuing. Search and rescue operations are ongoing. Bodies are still being pulled from the rubble,” she said in a statement.
“Let me be clear: the needs are massive, and they are rising by the hour. The window for life-saving response is closing.”
In the Mandalay area, 50 children and two teachers were killed when their preschool collapsed, the UN humanitarian agency said.
In a rare survival story, a 63-year-old woman who was trapped for 91 hours was pulled from the rubble of a building in Naypyitaw yesterday in a joint rescue effort by the Myanmar fire department and teams from India, China and Russia.
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