BANGKOK (AP) – Myanmar’s ruling forces said on state television on Saturday that the death toll from the devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake rose to 1,644.
The new total has risen sharply compared to the 1,002 total announced just hours ago, highlighting the difficulty of seeing casualties over a wide range of areas and the possibility that numbers will continue to increase since Friday’s earthquake. The number of injuries rose to 3,408, but the missing figure increased to 139.
In particular, rescue operations are underway in major cities in Mandalay, the country’s second largest city, and Nepaitau, the capital. However, teams and equipment have been dived from other countries, but airports in those cities have been damaged and apparently are not suitable for land aircraft.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, is suffering from a long-term civil war that is causing a humanitarian crisis. It makes movements across the country difficult and dangerous, complicate relief efforts, and raises fears that deaths could still surge.
The earthquake struck at noon on Friday at the epicenter not too far from Mandalay, followed by several aftershocks, including a 6.4. It caused many local buildings to fall to the ground, bent down the roads, collapsed bridges, and destroyed dams.
At Naypyidaw, crews worked to repair damaged roads on Saturday, with power, telephones and internet services remaining in most of the city. The earthquake has knocked down many buildings, including multiple units that house government officials, but that area of the city was blocked by authorities on Saturday.
More damages in Thailand
In nearby Thailand, the earthquake has shaken up Greater Bangkok area, where around 17 million people and other parts of the country live.
Bangkok city authorities said the number of deaths is now 10 years old as nine people in the collapsed skyscrapers under construction near the capital’s popular Chatuchak market and nine in the collapsed skyscrapers near the capital’s popular Chatuchak market. The rescue embor continued in the hopes of finding additional survivors.
More heavy equipment was brought in on Saturday to run the bulk of the tiled rubber, but hope was declining among missing friends and family that they would be alive.
“I prayed they survived, but when I arrived here and saw the abandoned in, where are they? Are they still alive? I’m still alive? I pray that all six of them are still alive,” said 45-year-old Naré Moltonlek, waiting for news from Myanmar.
Waenphet Panta said he hadn’t heard from his daughter Kanlayanee since the call was about an hour before Quake. A friend said her Kanrayani worked high in the building on Friday.
“I pray that my daughter is safe, that she is still alive and that she is in the hospital,” she said.
Thai authorities said earthquakes and aftershocks were felt in most of the country’s states. Many locations in the north reported damage to homes, hospitals and temples, including Chiang Mai, but the only victim in Bangkok was reported
Myanmar sits on a major fault line
Earthquakes are rare in Bangkok, but are relatively common in Myanmar. The country is located at the Sagar fault, the major north-south fault separating the Indian and Sunda plates.
Brian Baptie, a seismologist at British geological surveys, said Quake caused severe ground shaking in the area where he lives in a building built of wood and unenhanced brick masonry.
“If you’re having a major earthquake in an area with over 1 million people, many of them live in vulnerable buildings, so the outcome can often be disastrous,” he said in a statement.
Natural disasters above civil war
The Myanmar government said blood is in high demand in the most intense hit regions. In a country where previous governments were slow to accept foreign aid from time to time, Min Ang Fräning said Myanmar is ready to accept external support.
Myanmar’s military seized power from the government of Aung San Suu Kyi, elected in February 2021, and is now involved in a civil war between the aging militia and newly formed democratic people.
The army continued its attack after Quake. The three-person airstrike in northern Kaiyin province known as Karenni province and South Shan, known as the Mandalay border border, said Dave Eubank, a former U.S. Army Special Forces soldier who founded Freebur Malangers, a humanitarian organization that has been providing support to both marriage and civilians since the 1990s.
Eubank told The Associated Press that the earthquake had little effect as most villages in the area where he operates have already been destroyed by the military.
“People are in the jungle. When the earthquake hit, I was out in the jungle. It was powerful, but the trees just moved, so that was it for us.
In northern Shan, airstrikes in a village controlled by rebels told the Associated Press minutes after an earthquake killed seven militia members and destroyed five buildings including Mai Rukow, editor of Shan-based online media Shwe Phee Myay News Agency.
Government forces have lost control of most of Myanmar, and many locations are extremely dangerous or are impossible for aid groups to reach. According to the United Nations, more than 3 million people have been evacuated to the battle, and nearly 20 million people are in trouble.
“The whole picture of the damage is still emerging, but most of us have never seen such destruction,” said Haidayakub, Myanmar Country Director of NGO Project International, from Yangon.
Control tower at Myanmar Airport collapsed
Satellite photos of Planet Labs PBC, analyzed by the AP, show the earthquake defeated the air traffic control tower at Naypyitaw International Airport, as if diluted from the base.
The photos show on Saturday as debris lie scattered from the top of the tower that controls all air traffic in the rubbish capital.
It was not immediately clear whether the tower had suffered a collapsed injury despite staff members at the tower during Friday’s earthquake.
Rescue group heads to Myanmar
China and Russia were the largest suppliers of Myanmar’s military weapons and the first to receive humanitarian assistance.
China said it had sent over 135 rescue workers and experts with supplies such as medical kits and generators, pledged to approximately $13.8 million in emergency aid. Hong Kong sent a team of 51 people to Myanmar.
Russia’s emergency ministry said it had flew 120 rescuers and supplies, while the country’s health ministry said Moscow had sent medical teams to Myanmar.
Other countries like India and South Korea have sent help, and the United Nations has allocated $5 million to launch relief efforts.
US President Donald Trump said Friday that Washington would help with the response, but some experts were concerned about the effort given his administration’s deep cuts in foreign aid.
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Jerry Harmer and Grant Peck of Bangkok, Simina Mistrang of Taipei, Tong Hyun Kim of Seoul, South Korea, and John Gambrel of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to the report.
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