The number of deaths of an earthquake in Myanmar succeeded 1,600 on Saturday when the military government declared the state of emergency and called the blood donations.
The junta said that 1,644 people had been killed and 3,408 injured with 139 other disappeared persons, according to the Myanmar state media, although these figures should increase. The earthquake also left at least 10 deaths in Thailand, while 78 were missing after a building collapsed in Bangkok, the capital.
The 7.7 coarse quake epicenter was approximately 20 km outside Mandalay, the second largest city in Myanmar with a population of 1.5 million and a depth of 10 km. It was followed by two dozen replicas, including an earthquake of magnitude 6.4 nearby 12 minutes after the first.
“The number of victims is expected to increase further,” the chief of the Junta said late Friday, General Aung Hlaing. “In some regions, buildings have collapsed and we always carry out rescue operations.”
He pleaded for “as much support as possible for the ongoing rescue efforts”.
Friday evening, in a press briefing, President Donald Trump described the earthquake as “terrible” and said that the United States would help Myanmar in a row, without providing details.
His comments came on the same day that the State Department officially informed the Congress that he would close the American agency for international development, which generally plays an essential role in aid in the event of a disaster.
The president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also offered support, while the UN allocated $ 5 million and the EU 2.5 million euros for immediate rescue efforts. South Korea has also promised $ 2 million in aid through international aid groups.
The earthquake, which was the most powerful since the earthquake in 2023 in Turkey and Syria, was felt in the region, including in the Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan, Vietnam and Bangladesh.
The US Geological Survey has planned that the number of deaths in Myanmar could exceed 10,000 depending on its modeling, as “high victims and significant damage are likely and that the disaster is probably widespread”.
He added that economic losses could go beyond the country’s GDP, which amounted to $ 66.76 billion in 2023, according to the World Bank.
The UN Secretary General António Guterres said that the UN “was moving to help those who needed it” in the region, especially in Myanmar, which, according to him, was “the weakest country of this current situation”.
Videos and images on social networks have shown extensive destruction in Mandalay, the historic capital of Myanmar, where the temples were destroyed, the royal palace was damaged and a 90 -year -old bridge collapsed. Cracks broke out in the highway to Yangon, the most populous city.
China has sent 100 minutes RMB (14 million dollars) of emergency aid and rescue teams sent from Beijing and the Southwest Yunnan province in Myanmar, according to Chinese state media. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a previous declaration that it had not received reports from the death of Chinese citizens.
Russia has also sent two rescue and medical staff, including K-9 teams in Myanmar, according to the TASS press agency.
The disaster struck like myanmar Cittled by a civil war Since a coup d’etat in 2021 which overthrew the elected government of the Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.
The northern part of the country near the epicenter of the earthquake was particularly struck by the fighting between the military and armed pro-democracy groups and the ethnic minorities. About 3.5 million people are moved internally, according to the UN.
The soldiers closely controlled access to information, establishing internet controls and repressing local media, while Western sanctions have isolated the country and strangled its economy.
Starlink, Elon Musk’s satellite internet network, said he was preparing to offer equipment to support “communication and rescue efforts”, pending government approval. The system is not authorized in Myanmar, but the armed resistance groups used it to escape the government’s internet controls, according to local media reports.
According to rights groups, there are concerns concerning access to humanitarian aid efforts in Myanmar, where military governments have limited international assistance to disaster victims, especially in the wake of Cyclone Mocha in 2023 and Cyclone Nargis in 2008, which killed more than 100,000.
In a statement, the head of doctors without borders at the Myanmar Federica Franco said that the situation was “incredibly difficult, not only to obtain information, but also to physically reach people who need help.”
She added that there were “significant communication failures in some of the hardest affected areas … due to the current conflict”.
Bangkok, the 17mn Thai capital, returned to the normal by Saturday morning, with reopening companies and monks made rounds for morning alms.
Metro and tram services mainly resumed, as well as the flights from city airports, but with a certain disturbance.
The worst damage to the city, which is 600 miles from the epicenter of the earthquake, intervened after the collapse of a 33 -storey building, trapping dozens of workers.
Nattanan, 27, was on the collapse site on Friday evening in search of news from his father, who works as a foreman. “I’m still waiting for hope,” he told Financial Times.
Additional report from William Langley to Guangzhou and AP
