Rare plea from Myanmar military after 144 people killed in earthquake

Myanmar’s isolated military junta has issued a rare plea for international help after an earthquake killed at least 144 people, with warnings the number would likely rise.

Friday’s magnitude-7.7 quake shook the region, with neighbouring Thailand continuing rescue efforts after a 30-storey construction site collapsed, killing at least three people and trapping dozens of others under the rubble.

While the full extent of the catastrophe was still emerging, the leader of Myanmar’s ruling military junta, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, addressed the country in a televised address.

After confirming the number of dead, he said 732 others had been injured.

“In some places, some buildings collapsed,” he said in the speech, after visiting a hospital in the capital Naypyidaw.

He urged massive relief efforts in the wake of the disaster and said he had “opened all ways for foreign aid”.

Bridge and monastery collapse and dam bursts in Myanmar

Myanmar’s English-language state newspaper, Global New Light of Myanmar, said five cities and towns had seen buildings collapse and two bridges had fallen, including one on a key highway between Mandalay and Yangon. 

A photo on the newspaper’s website showed wreckage of a sign that read “EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT,” which the caption said was part of the capital’s main 1,000-bed hospital.

Elsewhere, video posted online showed robed monks in a Mandalay street, shooting their own video of the multistorey Ma Soe Yane monastery before it suddenly fell into the ground. 

It was not immediately clear whether anyone was harmed. Video also showed damage to the former royal palace.

Christian Aid said its partners and colleagues on the ground reported that a dam burst in the city, causing water levels to rise in the lowland areas.

Residents of Yangon, the nation’s largest city, rushed out of their homes when the quake struck. In Naypyitaw, some homes stood partly crumbled, while rescuers heaved away bricks from the piles of debris. 

In a country where many people already were struggling, “this disaster will have left people devastated,” said Julie Mehigan, who oversees Christian Aid’s work in Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

US, India and more offer help

US President Donald Trump said on Friday, local time, that he had spoken with officials in Myanmar and that his administration would be providing some form of assistance.

“We’re going to be helping,” he told reporters at the White House.

India, France and the European Union have also offered help, while the World Health Organization (WHO) said it was mobilising its logistics hub in Dubai to prepare trauma injury supplies.

The country declared a state of emergency across the six worst-affected regions after the quake, which the WHO described as a “very, very big threat to life and health”.

An official at the hospital visited by the junta chief described it as a “mass casualty area” with medics treating the wounded outside.

“I haven’t seen (something) like this before. We are trying to handle the situation. I’m so exhausted now,” a doctor told AFP.

A rescue worker from Amarapura, an ancient city and now a township of Mandalay, said the bodies of 30 people had been recovered from collapsed multi-story apartment blocks.

“I have never experienced anything like this before – our town looks like a collapsed city,” he said, estimating that about a fifth of the buildings had been destroyed.

Myanmar has been wracked by four years of civil war, that was sparked by the military seizing power from the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021.

The National Unity Government formed shortly after the coup and opposes military rule.

It said any aid needed to go through independent channels to ensure it reached people in need.

Thailand skyscraper search continues

Emergency services worked through the night trying to free people trapped under the rubble at the construction site in Bangkok.

Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said eight dead bodies had been recovered and, with between 90 and 110 people still missing, the toll is expected to rise.

“We see several dead bodies under the rubble. We will take time to bring the bodies out to avoid any further collapses,” he told reporters.

Around 100 rescue workers searched for survivors overnight, illuminated by specially erected floodlights.

Visiting the site, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said “every building” in Bangkok would need to be inspected for safety, though it was not immediately clear how that would be carried out.

An emergency zone was declared in Bangkok, where some metro and light rail services were suspended.

The quake was felt across the region, with China, Cambodia, Bangladesh and India all reporting tremors.

Pope Francis said he was “deeply saddened by the loss of life and widespread devastation” in a telegram published by the Vatican.

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Earthquakes are relatively common in Myanmar, where six strong quakes of 7.0 magnitude or more struck between 1930 and 1956 near the Sagaing Fault, which runs north to south through the centre of the country, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

A powerful magnitude-6.8 earthquake in the ancient capital Bagan in central Myanmar killed three people in 2016, also toppling spires and crumbling temple walls at the tourist destination.

AFP/AP

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