The number of dead in Myanmar was 1002, the military government said on Saturday, increasing the initial reports of the state media of 144 dead on Friday.
At least nine people were killed in neighboring Thailand, where the 7.7 magnitude earthquake shook the buildings and knocked down a skyscraper under construction in the capital Bangkok, holding 30 people under debris, with 49.
The predictive modeling of the US geological service estimated that the number of dead could exceed 10,000 in Myanmar and that losses could exceed the country’s annual economic production.
The earthquake damaged the roads, bridges and buildings in Myanmar, according to the board, whose main general made a rare request for international assistance on Friday.
“Search and rescue operations are currently being carried out in the affected areas,” the board said in a state media statement on Saturday.
A Chinese rescue team arrived in the commercial capital of Yangon, of Myanmar, hundreds of kilometers from the cities hit in Mandalay and Nayphitaw, the capital built by purpose, where parts of a 1000 bed hospital were damaged.
‘Don’t think there is some hope’
Russia, India, Malaysia, and Singapore were sending supplies and rescue staff plans to Myanmar, which was devastated by a civil war after a 2021 military coup dismissed an elected civil government.
“We will continue to monitor the developments and more help will follow,” said India Foreign Minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
South Korea said it would provide $ 2 million in humanitarian aid to Myanmar through international organizations.
The United States, who have an annoyed relationship with Mianmar’s Armed Forces and sanctioned his employees, including Board Chief Min Aung Hlaing, said he would provide some assistance.
The earthquake, which hit lunchtime on Friday, impacted wide lanes from the country, from the central plains around Mandalay to the Shan hills, parts of which are not completely under the control of the board.
In Mandalay, Mianmar’s second largest city, residents and rescue professionals fought to get people out of collapsed buildings, fighting with limited heavy machines available to remove debris.
After he was dragged out of a wall by other residents, Htet Min OO, 25, said he tried to clean the rubble of a wrinkled building to rescue his grandmother and two uncles – but ended up giving up.
“I don’t know if they are still alive under the debris,” he told Reuters, crying. “After so long, I think there’s no hope.”
Searching Bangkok Tower Rubbing
Susan Hough, a scientist at the USGS earthquake risk program, told Reuters that it was hard to predict the death toll of an earthquake for several reasons, including time. When an earthquake occurs during the day, as in Myanmar, she said.
In Bangkok, 1000 km from Epicenter, a rescue mission intensified his efforts on Saturday to find construction workers arrested under the rubble of the 33 -story tower.
Authorities used excavators, drones and search and accuracy dogs to try to release the 30 people in prisoners, including at least 15 still showing signs of life.
“We will do everything, we will not give up saving lives, we will use all the resources,” said Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt, on the spot.
After the city’s stop on Friday, hundreds spent the night in parks, but the situation was getting better on Saturday, he said.
Waanpetch Pantera was sitting at the venue of the building with her husband, watching rescue operations and waiting for news from her 18 -year -old daughter, who is among the missing.
“I prayed that my daughter was already among those taken to the hospital,” she said, “all I can do is sit down and wait like this.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdopu0l45m8
Worse time
Amnesty International said the earthquake could not have arrived at a worse time for Myanmar, given the number of displaced people, the existing need for help help and cuts to US help by the Trump administration.
Restricted media access meant a clear image of the extension of damage and losses may not arise for some time, said group myanmar researcher Joe Freeman.
Since overthrowing the elected civil government of the Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, the military has fought to manage Myanmar, leaving the economy and basic services, including medical assistance in Torres.
An armed opposition, comprising established ethnic armies and new resistance groups formed from the coup, seized areas of territory and expelled the joint from the border areas, increasingly surrounding the central plains.
The fight has moved more than three million people in Myanmar, with widespread food insecurity and more than a third of the population that needs humanitarian assistance, says the UN.
Myanmar has also been hit by natural disasters in recent years, and the internationally isolated joint fought to respond properly. It is on the border of two tectonic plates and is among the most seismically active countries in the world.
Nyi Nyi Kyaw, a Myanmar academic at the University of Bristol, said Mianmar is “totally unable to deal with the shock and its consequences” due to the collapse of civil society.
In Bangkok, people ran to the streets in panic, including hotel guests in bathrobes and swimming clothes, when the water cascade from a high pool in a luxury hotel.
Of the confirmed casualties in the Thai capital, eight died at the building’s collapse and a ninth elsewhere, said Bangkok’s deputy -governor, Kamolvej Tavado. The rescue operation at the construction site said more than 100 people were missing.
