Myanmar earthquake: 1,644 killed, 3400 injured; critical infrastructure annihilated

Amid rescuers’ relentless effort to dig through debris to reach trapped survivors, the number of deaths triggered by a massive earthquake in Myanmar and Thailand crossed 1600 on Saturday.National news

The shallow 7.7-magnitude earthquacke struck northwest of the city of Sagaing in central Myanmar early Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a 6.7-magnitude aftershock. The jolts destroyed buildings and critical infrastructure, including roads and bridges, across Myanmar. They also destroyed Mandalay, the country’s second biggest city and home to more than 1.7 million people.

Myanmar’s military administration, the junta, said in a statement that 1,644 people were killed and more than 3,400 injured in the country. At least 139 people were missing. Around 10 more deaths have been confirmed in Bangkok.

The death toll is expected to rise.

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has appealed to the international community to help the beleaguered country, a rare call for help that indicated the severity of the fallout of the earthquake.

Myanmar has declared a state of emergency in the worst-hit regions.

The United States, India, China and several other countries have pledged support to Myanmar.

The intensity of the earthquake can be gauged from the fact that tremors were powerful enough to severely damage buildings across Bangkok, hundreds of kilometers (miles) away from the epicenter.

A centuries-old Buddhist pagoda in Mandalay had been reduced to rubble. According to reports, teams and equipment have been flown in from other nations, but they are hindered by the airports in those cities being damaged.

In Naypyidaw, crews were trying to repair damaged roads, while electricity, phone and internet services remained severed for most of the city.

In Bangkok, rescue workers have been working tirelessly to extricate those trapped under the rubble of a 30-storey skyscraper.

Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt told reporters that eight people had been confirmed dead in the building collapse so far, while at least eight others were rescued; 79 were still unaccounted for at the building.