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The Independent
01-04-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Signs of life detected in ruins of collapsed Bangkok skyscraper as death toll tops 2,000
The death toll from the devastating earthquake in Myanmar crossed 2,000 as signs of life were detected in the ruins of a skyscraper in Bangkok that collapsed last week. A 7.7 magnitude shallow earthquake, one of Myanmar's strongest in a century, jolted the civil war-torn Southeast Asian nation on Friday afternoon, leaving thousands of people dead, flattening roads, and destroying buildings hundreds of miles away in Thailand. Aid groups arriving in the worst-hit areas of Myanmar said there was an urgent need for shelter, food and water, while in Bangkok, rescuers pressed on searching for life under the rubble of a collapsed skyscraper. The death toll in Myanmar reached 2,065, with more than 3,900 injured and at least 270 missing, according to the state media. The military has declared a week-long mourning period from Monday, while a minute of silence will be held across the embattled nation on Tuesday. The true scale of devastation in Myanmar was not known due to limited information emerging from the nation, which was already battling a conflict between the junta and the armed ethnic rebel forces since the military wrested power from the elected government in 2021. Relief efforts are further hampered by power outages, fuel shortages and spotty communications. A lack of heavy machinery has slowed search-and-rescue operations, forcing many to search for survivors by hand in daily temperatures above 40C. Rescue workers in Mandalay, near the epicentre, said they were still searching for about 150 of the dead monks. Hundreds of people, for a fourth night, slept outside their buildings and were desperately trying to organise their efforts to dig bodies out of the rubble. "People went back inside the building in the day time but still not dare to sleep at night," the resident told Reuters. "People are still sleeping outside and started getting sick ... as the ground has been hit by sun the whole day and so it's hot." Arnaud de Baecque, the resident representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Myanmar, said access to all victims have been an issue given the ongoing conflict. "There are a lot of security issues to access some areas across the front lines in particular." The Red Cross said hospitals were overwhelmed with trauma cases and patients were being treated on beds outside due to fears of buildings collapsing. More than 10,000 buildings completely collapsed or severely damaged in central and northwest Myanmar, the UN humanitarian agency said. One preschool classroom building collapsed in Mandalay district, killing 50 children and two teachers, it said. "The situation is so dire that it's hard to express what is happening," Aung Myint Hussein, chief administrator of Mandalay's Sajja North mosque, told AFP. Some 700 Muslim worshipers attending Friday prayers were killed when mosques collapsed, according to Tun Kyi, a member of the steering committee of the Spring Revolution Myanmar Muslim Network. He said some 60 mosques were damaged or destroyed. In the city of Sagaing, about 80 per cent of the buildings have collapsed, said Aung Min Naing, the programme director of the Future Youth Development Organisation. "No restaurants are opening, and no food's available — even dry food — nor any food shops are open." In Bangkok, rescuers were still scouring the ruins of an unfinished skyscraper but were aware that as nearly four days had passed since the quake. At least 13 deaths have been confirmed at the building site, with 74 people still missing, as Thailand's national death toll from the quake stands at 20. Initial tests showed that some steel samples collected from the site of the collapsed building were substandard, Thai industry ministry officials said. Scanning machines and sniffer dogs were deployed at the site of the building collapse with realistic chances of survival diminishing after 72 hours. "We have to speed up. We're not going to stop even after 72 hours," said Bangkok's deputy governor Tavida Kamolvej. Mana Nimitmongkol, president of the Anti-Corruption Organisation of Thailand, said it had informed the audit office about its concerns regarding the project. The government had threatened to cancel the project in January due to delays, he told Reuters. Construction of the building began in 2020 and is being carried out by a joint venture between Italian Thai Development PCL and China Railway Number 10 (Thailand) Ltd, a local unit of China's state-owned China Railway Group. The tower was originally slated for completion by 2026 but was behind schedule. The deputy auditor general, Sutthipong Boonnithi, told reporters on Saturday that construction was only "30 per cent completed" before it collapsed. Thai prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra ordered government agencies on Saturday to investigate the root cause of the building collapse within one week. The UN's Myanmar country team called for unimpeded access for aid teams. "Even before this earthquake, nearly 20 million people in Myanmar were in need of humanitarian assistance," said Marcoluigi Corsi, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator. India, China and Russia in recent days have sent teams of responders to Myanmar while the US said it has also dispatched a group of experts. On Monday, an Indian team jackhammered through slabs of fallen concrete at one site in Mandalay. The EU, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and others have announced millions of dollars in aid.
Japan Times
31-03-2025
- Health
- Japan Times
Rescue hopes fading three days after deadly Myanmar quake
Myanmar's ruling junta declared a week of national mourning on Monday for the country's devastating earthquake, which has killed more than 1,700 people, as hopes faded of finding more survivors in the rubble of ruined buildings. National flags will fly at half-mast until April 6 "in sympathy for the loss of life and damages" from Friday's massive 7.7 magnitude quake, the junta said in a statement. The announcement came as the tempo and urgency of rescue efforts was winding down in the central Myanmar city of more than 1.7 million people, one of the worst affected by Friday's devastating 7.7-magnitude quake. "The situation is so dire that it's hard to express what is happening," said Aung Myint Hussein, chief administrator of Mandalay's Sajja North mosque. People camped out in the streets across Mandalay overnight, either unable to return to ruined homes or nervous about the repeated aftershocks that rattled the city over the weekend. Some had tents but many, including young children, simply bedded down on blankets in the middle of the roads, trying to keep as far from buildings as possible for fear of falling debris. Conditions were difficult — with temperatures reaching around 40 degrees Celsius. The sticky heat has exhausted rescue workers and accelerated body decomposition, which could complicate identification. Mandalay's 1,000-bed general hospital has been evacuated, with hundreds of patients being treated outside. Patients lay on gurneys in the hospital parking lot, many with only a thin tarpaulin rigged up to shield them from the fierce tropical sun. Relatives did their best to comfort them, holding hands or wafting them with bamboo fans. 'This is a very very imperfect condition for everyone,' said one medic who asked to remain anonymous. 'We're trying to do what we can here. We are trying our best.' With communications down in much of Myanmar, the true scale of the disaster has yet to emerge and the death toll is expected to rise significantly. A desperate scene unfolded at a collapsed apartment block in Myanmar's second biggest city on Sunday evening, when rescuers thought they had saved the life of a pregnant woman trapped under the rubble for more than 55 hours. They amputated her leg to free her, but after pulling her out she was pronounced dead. "We tried everything to save her," said one of the medical responders, but she had lost too much blood from the amputation. There was better news elsewhere in the city, as rescuers freed a woman from the ruins of a hotel in Myanmar after 60 hours trapped under the collapsed Great Wall Hotel. Rescue workers carry the body of a victim in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake, in Mandalay, Myanmar, on Monday. | Reuters The woman was saved after a five-hour operation by Chinese, Russian and local teams, according to a Chinese Embassy Facebook post. It said she was in stable condition early on Monday. At least four people were rescued from the rubble, Chinese media reported. Those rescued include a pregnant woman and a girl, the Xinhua news agency said. 'It doesn't matter how long we work. The most important thing is that we can bring hope to the local people,' said Yue Xin, head of the first detachment of the China Search and Rescue Team, Xinhua reported. Muslim worshipers, meanwhile, gathered near a destroyed mosque in the city on Monday morning for the first prayer of Eid al-Fitr, the holiday that follows the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan. Funerals for hundreds of victims are also expected to take place on Monday. The initial 7.7 magnitude quake struck near Mandalay early Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a 6.7 magnitude aftershock. The tremors collapsed buildings, downed bridges and buckled roads, with some of the worst destruction seen in central Myanmar. Rescue teams work to evacuate residents trapped under the rubble of the collapsed Sky Villa Condominium development in Mandalay, Myanmar, on Sunday. | AFP-JIJI The Japanese Foreign Ministry on Sunday said a Japanese national living in Mandalay has been unaccounted for, and may have been caught in the quake after the building the person lived in collapsed. The Japanese Embassy in the Southeast Asian nation has asked authorities there to search for the missing individual. Aftershocks continued to be felt in Mandalay over the weekend, spurring residents to flee into the streets in multiple instances of brief panic. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies launched an emergency appeal Sunday for more than $100 million to help victims. The world's largest humanitarian network said needs were growing by the hour as rising temperatures and the approaching monsoon season increase the risk of "secondary crises." India, China and Thailand are among Myanmar's neighbors that have sent relief materials and teams, along with aid and personnel from Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Russia. But residents in the cities of Mandalay and Sagaing reported that international aid had not arrived as concerns grew about a severe shortage of food, electricity and water. The United States pledged $2 million in aid "through Myanmar-based humanitarian assistance organizations" and said in a statement that an emergency response team from USAID, which is undergoing massive cuts under the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, is deploying to Myanmar. The challenges facing the Southeast Asian country of over 50 million people were immense even before the earthquake. Rebel soldiers ride in the back of a pickup truck in southern Karenni state, in Myanmar, in January. | Adam Ferguson / The New York Times Myanmar has been ravaged by four years of civil war sparked by a military coup in 2021. Reports have emerged of sporadic fighting even after the quake, with one rebel group saying that seven of its fighters were killed in an aerial attack soon after the tremors hit. An armed resistance movement against Myanmar's military-run government has criticized the junta for conducting airstrikes on villages even as the country reels from an earthquake that has killed around 1,700 people. The Karen National Union, one of Myanmar's oldest ethnic armies, said in a statement Sunday that the junta "continues to carry out airstrikes targeting civilian areas, even as the population suffers tremendously from the earthquake." The group said that under normal circumstances, the military would be prioritizing relief efforts, but instead is focused on "deploying forces to attack its people." A spokesman for the junta did not reply to queries about the criticism. Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan called for an immediate ceasefire to help aid distribution, following a virtual meeting with his ASEAN counterparts on the disaster. "(Balakrishnan) called for an immediate and effective ceasefire in Myanmar which would facilitate the efforts to deliver humanitarian assistance and longer term national reconciliation, peace and reconstruction," Singapore's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Muslims offer morning prayers to start the Eid al-Fitr festival, marking the end of Ramadan, near destroyed mosques in Mandalay, Myanmar, on Monday. | AFP-JIJI On Sunday, the opposition National Unity Government, which includes remnants of the government ousted in 2021, said anti-junta militias under its command would pause all offensive military action for two weeks. Richard Horsey, the senior Myanmar adviser at Crisis Group, said some anti-junta forces have halted their offensives but fighting continues elsewhere. "The regime also continues to launch airstrikes, including in affected areas. That needs to stop," he said. The regime was not providing much visible support in quake-hit areas, he added. "Local fire brigades, ambulance crews, and community organizations have mobilized, but the military — who would normally be mobilized to support in such a crisis — are nowhere to be seen," Horsey said. Before Friday's quake, some 3.5 million people were displaced by the raging civil war, many at risk of hunger. In the Thai capital of Bangkok — about 1,000 kilometers away from Mandalay — rain fell on Monday morning at the site of a collapsed building that had been under construction at the time of Friday's quake. At least 18 people have been killed in Bangkok, city authorities said Sunday, with 33 injured and 78 still missing. Most of the deaths were workers killed in the tower collapse, while most of the missing are believed to be trapped under the immense pile of debris where the skyscraper once stood. Signs of life were detected under the rubble Monday, Bangkok's Deputy Gov. Tavida Kamolvej said. Rescuers were urgently working out how to access the area it came from, given three days had passed since the quake, she said. By medical standards, realistic chances of survival diminish after 72 hours, she said, adding: "We have to speed up. We're not going to stop even after 72 hours." Rescue workers raced over the weekend to find survivors, using large mechanical diggers to uncover rubble while distressed family members waited nearby. Sniffer dogs and thermal imaging drones have been deployed to seek signs of life in the collapsed building, which is close to the Chatuchak weekend market, a popular destination for tourists.
Express Tribune
31-03-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Myanmar declares week of national mourning as earthquake death toll surpasses 2,000
A bird flies past the damaged Mandalay Palace during sunset in Mandalay on March 31, three days after the deadly Myanmar earthquake. PHOTO: AFP Listen to article Myanmar declared a week of national mourning on Monday over the country's devastating earthquake, as the death toll passed 2,000 and hopes faded of finding more survivors in the rubble of ruined buildings. National flags will fly at half-mast until April 6 'in sympathy for the loss of life and damages' from Friday's massive quake, the ruling junta said in a statement. The junta also announced a minute's silence on Tuesday, to begin at 12:51 pm — the precise time the 7.7-magnitude quake struck. People should stop where they are to pay tribute to the victims, the junta said, while media should halt broadcasting and show mourning symbols, and prayers will be offered at temples and pagodas. The announcement came as the tempo and urgency of rescue efforts wound down in Mandalay, one of the worst-affected cities and the country's second-largest, with more than 1.7 million inhabitants. 'The situation is so dire that it's hard to express what is happening,' said Aung Myint Hussein, chief administrator of Mandalay's Sajja North mosque. People prepared to camp out in the streets across Mandalay for a fourth successive night, either unable to return to ruined homes or nervous about the repeated aftershocks that rattled the city over the weekend. Some have tents but many, including young children, have been bedding down on blankets in the middle of roads, trying to keep as far from buildings as possible for fear of falling masonry. The junta said Monday that 2,056 have now been confirmed, with more than 3,900 people injured and 270 still missing, but the toll is expected to rise significantly. Three Chinese nationals are among the dead, China's state media said, along with two French people, according to the foreign ministry in Paris. At least 19 deaths have been confirmed hundreds of kilometres away in Thailand's capital Bangkok, where the force of the quake caused a 30-storey tower block under construction to collapse. Outdoor hospital Mandalay's 1,000-bed general hospital has been evacuated, with hundreds of patients being treated outside. Patients lay on gurneys in the hospital car park, many with only a thin tarpaulin rigged up to shield them from the fierce tropical sun. Relatives did their best to comfort them, holding hands or waving bamboo fans over them. 'We're trying to do what we can here. We are trying our best,' said one medic, who asked to remain anonymous. The sticky heat has exhausted rescue workers and accelerated body decomposition, which could complicate identification. But traffic began returning to the streets of Mandalay on Monday, and restaurants and street vendors resumed work. Hundreds of Muslims gathered outside a destroyed mosque in the city for the first prayer of Eid al-Fitr, the holiday that follows the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan. Humanitarian crisis The challenges facing the Southeast Asian country of more than 50 million people were immense even before the earthquake. Myanmar has been ravaged by four years of civil war sparked by a military coup in 2021, with its economy shattered and healthcare and infrastructure badly damaged. The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the quake a top-level emergency as it urgently sought $8 million to save lives, while the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has launched an appeal for more than $100 million. International aid and rescue teams have been arriving after junta chief Min Aung Hlaing made an exceptionally rare appeal for foreign assistance. In the past, Myanmar's ruling generals have shunned foreign assistance, even after major natural disasters. Junta spokesperson Zaw Min Tun thanked key allies China and Russia for their help, as well as India, and said the authorities were doing their best. 'We are trying and giving treatment to injured people and searching for missing ones,' he told journalists. But reports have emerged of the military carrying out air strikes on armed groups opposed to its rule, even as Myanmar grapples with the quake's aftermath. One ethnic minority armed group told AFP on Sunday that seven of its fighters were killed in an aerial attack soon after the quake, and there were reports of more air strikes on Monday. Myanmar's raging civil war, pitting the military against a complex array of anti-coup fighters and ethnic minority armed groups, has displaced around 3.5 million people. In Bangkok, diggers continued to clear the vast pile of rubble at the site of the collapsed building. Officials say they have not given up hope of finding more survivors in the wreckage, where 12 deaths have been confirmed and at least 75 people are still unaccounted for.
Jordan Times
31-03-2025
- General
- Jordan Times
Myanmar declares week of mourning as quake toll passes 2,000
Mandalay, Myanmar - Myanmar declared a week of national mourning on Monday over the country's devastating earthquake, as the death toll passed 2,000 and hopes faded of finding more survivors in the rubble of ruined buildings. National flags will fly at half-mast until April 6 "in sympathy for the loss of life and damages" from Friday's massive quake, the ruling junta said in a statement. The junta also announced a minute's silence on Tuesday, to begin at 12:51:02 pm (0621 GMT) -- the precise time the 7.7-magnitude quake struck. People should stop where they are to pay tribute to the victims, the junta said, while media should halt broadcasting and show mourning symbols, and prayers will be offered at temples and pagodas. The announcement came as the tempo and urgency of rescue efforts wound down in Mandalay, one of the worst-affected cities and the country's second-largest, with more than 1.7 million inhabitants. "The situation is so dire that it's hard to express what is happening," said Aung Myint Hussein, chief administrator of Mandalay's Sajja North mosque. People prepared to camp out in the streets across Mandalay for a fourth successive night, either unable to return to ruined homes or nervous about the repeated aftershocks that rattled the city over the weekend. Some have tents but many, including young children, have been bedding down on blankets in the middle of roads, trying to keep as far from buildings as possible for fear of falling masonry. The junta said Monday that 2,056 have now been confirmed, with more than 3,900 people injured and 270 still missing, but the toll is expected to rise significantly. Three Chinese nationals are among the dead, China's state media said, along with two French people, according to the foreign ministry in Paris. At least 19 deaths have been confirmed hundreds of kilometres away in Thailand's capital Bangkok, where the force of the quake caused a 30-storey tower block under construction to collapse. Outdoor hospital Mandalay's 1,000-bed general hospital has been evacuated, with hundreds of patients being treated outside. Patients lay on gurneys in the hospital car park, many with only a thin tarpaulin rigged up to shield them from the fierce tropical sun. Relatives did their best to comfort them, holding hands or waving bamboo fans over them. "We're trying to do what we can here. We are trying our best," said one medic, who asked to remain anonymous. The sticky heat has exhausted rescue workers and accelerated body decomposition, which could complicate identification. But traffic began returning to the streets of Mandalay on Monday, and restaurants and street vendors resumed work. Hundreds of Muslims gathered outside a destroyed mosque in the city for the first prayer of Eid al-Fitr, the holiday that follows the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan. Humanitarian crisis The challenges facing the Southeast Asian country of more than 50 million people were immense even before the earthquake. Myanmar has been ravaged by four years of civil war sparked by a military coup in 2021, with its economy shattered and healthcare and infrastructure badly damaged. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the quake a top-level emergency as it urgently sought $8 million to save lives, while the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has launched an appeal for more than $100 million. International aid and rescue teams have been arriving after junta chief Min Aung Hlaing made an exceptionally rare appeal for foreign assistance. In the past, isolated Myanmar's ruling generals have shunned foreign assistance, even after major natural disasters. Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun thanked key allies China and Russia for their help, as well as India, and said the authorities were doing their best. "We are trying and giving treatment to injured people and searching for missing ones," he told journalists. But reports have emerged of the military carrying out air strikes on armed groups opposed to its rule, even as Myanmar grapples with the quake's aftermath. One ethnic minority armed group told AFP on Sunday that seven of its fighters were killed in an aerial attack soon after the quake, and there were reports of more air strikes on Monday. Myanmar's raging civil war, pitting the military against a complex array of anti-coup fighters and ethnic minority armed groups, has displaced around 3.5 million people. In Bangkok, diggers continued to clear the vast pile of rubble at the site of the collapsed building. Officials say they have not given up hope of finding more survivors in the wreckage, where 12 deaths have been confirmed and at least 75 people are still unaccounted for.
The Guardian
31-03-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Myanmar earthquake death toll tops 2,000, as health system ‘overwhelmed'
The fallout from Myanmar's earthquake has overwhelmed parts of the healthcare system, the World Health Organization has said, as the official death toll rose to more than 2,000, with many more missing. Rescue operations faced 'significant obstacles including damaged roads, collapsed bridges, unstable communications and the complexities related to civil conflict', the WHO said in an update. 'The earthquake's devastation has overwhelmed healthcare facilities in the affected areas, which are struggling to manage the influx of injured individuals. There is an urgent need for trauma and surgical care, blood transfusion supplies, anaesthetics, essential medicines, and mental health support,' the UN health agency added. Later on Monday, Myanmar's junta announced Friday's major earthquake had led to the deaths of 2,056 people. A spokesperson said that 270 more people were still missing, with 3,900 people injured. Predictive modelling estimates by the US Geological Survey, which monitors seismic activity, suggest the death toll could eventually reach well over 10,000. The WHO said at least three hospitals were destroyed and 22 were partly damaged, while 'the scale of deaths and injuries is not yet fully understood'. The agency had earlier issued an urgent flash appeal for $8m (£6.1m) for emergency support. Myanmar has declared a week of national mourning, with national flags to fly at half mast. Across central parts of the country, homes, religious sites, schools, universities, hotels and hospitals have all been damaged or destroyed. Rescue volunteers have spent days trying to free people from collapsed buildings. In Mandalay, one of the worst-affected cities and the country's second-largest, with more than 1.7 million inhabitants, people camped out in the streets for a third successive night. The city's 1,000-bed general hospital had also been evacuated, with hundreds of patients being treated outside. 'The situation is so dire that it's hard to express what is happening,' said Aung Myint Hussein, the chief administrator of Mandalay's Sajja North mosque. At the U Hla Thein monastery in Mandalay, 270 monks were taking a religious exam at the time the earthquake struck. Rescue workers at the scene on Monday said 70 were able to escape but 50 had been found dead, and 150 were still unaccounted for. Communications with many of the affected areas are poor, partly due to the country's continuing civil war, with much of the country out of the control of the military administration. After a rare request by Myanmar's isolated junta for international help – possibly due to the overwhelming magnitude of the impact – international assistance began to arrive over the weekend. China and Russia have sent aid and personnel, while India, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore have also sent assistance. Still, a rescue team from Taiwan has been standing ready to provide assistance to Myanmar but has not been called upon, amid speculation that the team was denied entry so as not to offend Taiwan's enemy and Myanmar's ally China. The earthquake happened just as many humanitarian agencies were cutting back projects in Myanmar after Donald Trump's cuts to the main US humanitarian group, USAID. 'Even before this earthquake, nearly 20 million people in Myanmar were in need of humanitarian assistance,' said the UN representative in Myanmar, Marcoluigi Corsi. 'This latest tragedy compounds an already dire crisis and risks further eroding the resilience of communities already battered by conflict, displacement and past disasters.' Myanmar was already in crisis before the disaster, due to a spiralling conflict triggered when the military seized power in a coup in 2021. The junta is facing an armed resistance to its rule, formed of civilians who took up arms to fight for the return of democracy, and armed ethnic organisations that have long fought for independence. It has lost swathes of territory and responded with relentless airstrikes, which continued after the devastating quake, even close to the epicentre. In neighbouring Thailand, which was also affected by the quake, authorities were investigating possible factors that led to the devastating collapse of a Bangkok construction site, where dozens remain missing. The Bangkok deputy governor Tavida Kamolvej has indicated it is unlikely that anybody else will be rescued from the building that collapsed. At least 19 people are known to have been killed in Thailand. The country's prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, has also called a meeting with government departments responsible for sending SMS alerts to the public, amid criticism of the response when the earthquake struck. Agence France-Presse and Associated Press contributed to this report
