Myanmar Earthquakes Reduce Pagodas & Monasteries to Rubble
A building collapsed in Myanmar after massive earthquakes (Image credit UNICEF)
Myanmar Deaths After Earthquakes Climb Over 1700
By TRH News Desk
New Delhi, March 30: Myanmar is battling deathly trails of massive earthquakes and aftershocks. Almost 1700 people have been reported dead.
The devastating 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck central Myanmar on Friday. Aftershocks soon after left a trail of destruction across Myanmar.
By Sunday afternoon, the local authorities counted 1700 dead. The epicenter was located near Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city.
The earthquakes sent buildings sinking. Massive damage to infrastructure has been reported. A series of aftershocks, including a 5.1-magnitude quake on Sunday, compounded woes of the affected people.
Mandalay and Naypyidaw bore the maximum brunt of the earthquakes. Myanmar-based media reported that “pagodas, monasteries, and residential buildings have been reduced to rubble”. Local media outlets quoted officials, warning that “the toll could rise further as rescue efforts continue”. The officials are yet to account for the losses in the remote areas.
The earthquake has been recorded as the strongest to hit Myanmar since 1912. Local media outlets stated that “aftershocks, including Sunday’s tremor 17 miles north of Mandalay, have heightened fears among survivors and complicated rescue missions.
Mathew Tostewin, a journalist, posted on X, saying that “Myanmar’s people are used to having to fend for themselves in the face of disasters. They are the ones who are trying to search for the trapped and recover the dead after the earthquake whose toll was far greater than the 1,600 announced so far”.
Experts warned that the rescue operations have been hampered due to poor communication networks in Myanmar. Some even appealed to billionaire Elon Musk to extend the support through his Starlink networks.
Experts feared that many more people may have been buried and their number could be more than what has been so far reported. They are growing worried that the rescue operations missed the crucial first 24 hours in reaching the remote provinces of Myanmar.
Compounding the crisis in Myanmar is the abject poverty of the nation. The military rule has also sunken Myanmar deep into poverty, lacking in necessary infrastructure to respond to crisis of such scale.
India pressed into action ‘Operation Brahma’ as the first responder in the aftermath of the Myanmar earthquakes. China also has pressed into relief operations in Myanmar, claiming to be a first responder.
Myanmar earthquakes also left devastating trails in Thailand where over a dozen people lost their lives. Visuals of swimming pools at the roofs of skyscrapers have gone viral on the social media platforms. Rescue operations are ongoing in Bangkok to save dozens trapped under rubble of buildings which collapsed.
Local media outlets quoted Myanmar’s military junta on Sunday that at least 1,644 people have died in the country, with over 3,400 injured and 139 still missing. In Thailand, the death toll in Bangkok has risen to 17, with 32 injured and 83 unaccounted for, largely due to the collapse of a 30-story skyscraper under construction near the Chatuchak market.
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