BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) — A 7.7 magnitude earthquake and an aftershock measuring 6.4 rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand on Friday, destroying buildings, a bridge and a dam.
At the very least 144 individuals have been killed in Myanmar, the pinnacle of the army authorities stated within the televised speech.
“The loss of life toll and accidents are anticipated to rise,” Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing stated, including that greater than 700 individuals had been injured.
At the very least 10 died within the Thai capital, the place a high-rise beneath development collapsed. Harm was additionally reported in China.
The quake struck within the early afternoon, sending individuals streaming out of buildings and searching for shelter wherever they might discover it from the blazing solar.
Myanmar’s military-run authorities has declared a state of emergency in six areas.
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China says it’s prepared to assist with humanitarian help
China’s international ministry says the nation stands able to do its finest to offer emergency humanitarian help and assist to the earthquake-affected space in Myanmar.
The assertion says China needs to assist “assist individuals there perform catastrophe reduction and rescue and pull by way of this attempting time.”
The ministry spokesperson additionally prolonged “our honest sympathies” to Myanmar and stated the peoples of China and Myanmar get pleasure from a profound “pauk-phaw” friendship, referring to the significantly shut ties between the 2 nations.
Radio Free Asia largely absent from quake protection after funding cuts
After Cyclone Mocha in 2023, Radio Free Asia’s Burmese Service beamed greater than 70 tales in 10 days to its viewers by way of shortwave radio, satellite tv for pc TV and social media. However the U.S.-backed broadcaster has been noticeably absent from earthquake protection within the area after President Trump gutted its guardian firm, the U.S. Company for World Media.
Radio Free Asia, which receives funds from the company, has been pressured to furlough most of its employees and sever contracts with stringers, together with some in Myanmar, hindering its efforts to collect information on the bottom, stated Rohit Mahajan, spokesman for RFA.
As USAGM ends contracts for shortwave radio transmitters, RFA has misplaced three hours of transmission time to beam applications to audiences in Myanmar, in accordance with Mahajan.
UN allocates $5 million from emergency reduction fund to earthquakes
The United Nations’ emergency reduction coordinator made an preliminary allocation of $5 million for restoration efforts within the space because the worldwide physique works to get well from large U.S. funding cuts to the area even earlier than the 7.7 magnitude quake hit.
Stéphane Dujarric, the U.N. spokesperson, advised reporters that the allocation was made as worldwide and native U.N. employees are working to collect info on the variety of individuals impacted, harm to infrastructure and the scope of the humanitarian wants.
“The earthquake will compound an already dire humanitarian scenario in Myanmar, the place practically 20 million individuals want help throughout the nation, together with greater than 3.5 million individuals displaced from their properties,” Dujarric stated at a briefing Friday.
Affect ‘more likely to be extreme’
“The impression of the earthquake in Myanmar is more likely to be extreme, with presumably hundreds of displaced individuals in want of pressing shelter, meals and medical help,” stated Mohammed Riyas, regional director of the Worldwide Rescue Committee.
“We concern it might be weeks earlier than we perceive the complete extent of destruction brought on by this earthquake, as communication community traces are down and transport is disrupted,” he stated. “The harm to infrastructure and houses, lack of life, and accidents sustained by communities affected shouldn’t be underestimated.”
Riyas stated the IRC and its companions are working to know how communities have been affected with the intention of launching an emergency response. He stated in an announcement that “search and rescue operations are underway.”
Pope gives prayers for victims
Pope Francis, who’s convalescing after a five-week hospitalization for life-threatening double pneumonia, offered prayers to the victims of the earthquake.
“The pope has been knowledgeable of the catastrophe in Myanmar and is praying for the dramatic scenario and for the various victims, additionally in Thailand,’’ the Vatican stated in an announcement.
Monastery hit, dam bursts
The earthquake reportedly introduced down a number of buildings in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest metropolis, together with the Ma Soe Yane monastery.
A video posted on-line confirmed robed monks on the street taking pictures video of the multistory monastery earlier than it immediately fell into the bottom. It was not instantly clear whether or not anybody was harmed.
Christian Support stated its companions and colleagues on the bottom reported {that a} dam burst within the metropolis, inflicting water ranges to rise within the lowland areas within the space.
The Pink Cross stated downed energy traces added to challenges for his or her groups attempting to achieve a number of hard-hit areas.
Bridge collapse, freeway broken
In Mandalay, which was near the epicenter, the earthquake broken a part of the previous royal palace and buildings, in accordance with movies and images launched on Fb social media.
Within the Sagaing area, southwest of Mandalay, a 90-year-old bridge collapsed, and a few sections of the freeway connecting Mandalay and Myanmar’s largest metropolis, Yangon, have been broken.
Within the capital Naypyitaw, the quake broken non secular shrines, sending elements toppling to the bottom.
Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, a army authorities spokesperson, advised state tv MRTV that blood was in excessive demand within the hospitals in earthquake-hit areas, particularly Mandalay, Sagaing, and Naypyitaw.
He urged blood donors to contact the hospitals as quickly as attainable.
‘Important harm’
The Pink Cross stated downed energy traces are including to challenges for his or her groups attempting to achieve Mandalay and Sagaing areas and southern Shan state.
“Preliminary studies from the bottom counsel the earthquake has brought on vital harm,” the Pink Cross stated. “Data on humanitarian wants remains to be being gathered.”
State of emergency
A state of emergency has been declared in six areas and states in Myanmar by the military-run authorities.
State-run MRTV tv stated the federal government’s proclamation contains the capital Naypyitaw and Mandalay, after the earthquake and a powerful aftershock, whose epicenter was close to the nation’s second largest metropolis.
Myanmar is within the midst of a civil conflict and plenty of areas are usually not simply accessible and it was not instantly clear what reduction efforts the army would be capable to present.
Many lacking in Bangkok constructing collapse
Thai emergency responders stated at the very least two individuals have been discovered useless and an unknown variety of others are nonetheless beneath the rubble of a collapsed constructing in Bangkok.
Rescue employee Songwut Wangpon, talking on the scene of a tall pile of rubble that was as soon as a high-rise constructing beneath development, advised reporters one other seven individuals had been discovered alive.
Thailand’s Protection Minister Phumtham Wechayachai later stated three individuals had been confirmed useless with 90 others lacking following the constructing collapse.
The collapse of the multi-story construction despatched a crane on prime of it toppling to the bottom and created an enormous plume of mud.
Individuals rush for security in teeming Bangkok
Individuals within the Silom enterprise district of Bangkok evacuated workplace buildings and condominium towers alongside Rama IV Highway and streamed into close by Lumphini Park. The sidewalks stuffed with work crews with neon inexperienced shirts, together with different staff in exhausting hats and blue and inexperienced uniform shirts.
Alongside the walkways of the park and the sidewalks of Silom and close by Sathon, individuals in enterprise apparel and firm uniforms huddled or stood in packs speaking and checking their telephones. Some shifting by way of the crowds have been crying or visibly distraught.
Paul Vincent, a vacationer visiting from England, was at a streetside bar when the quake struck.
“The following factor, all people got here on the road, so there was a number of screaming and panicking, which clearly made it quite a bit worse,” he stated.
As he got here onto the road himself, he stated he noticed a high-rise constructing swaying and water was falling from a rooftop pool.
“After I noticed the constructing, oh my God, that’s when … it hit me,” he stated. “There have been individuals crying within the streets and, you understand, the panic was horrendous actually.”
Harm reported in close by China
The earthquake was felt in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces in China and brought on accidents and harm to homes within the metropolis of Ruili on the border with northern Myanmar, in accordance with Chinese language media studies.
Movies that one outlet stated it had acquired from an individual in Ruili confirmed constructing particles littering a avenue and an individual being wheeled on a stretcher towards an ambulance.
The shaking in Mangshi, a Chinese language metropolis about 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of Ruili, was so robust that folks couldn’t stand, one resident advised The Paper, a web based media outlet.
Thai prime minister guarantees all mandatory assist
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra stated she has ordered related companies to arrange and work to alleviate the scenario and warned of attainable aftershocks. She didn’t point out any casualties.
“I’d prefer to ask everybody to remain calm and don’t panic, however please watch out.”
Bangkok Metropolis Corridor has declared Bangkok an space of catastrophe.
