Bangkok : Myanmar’s military rulers let in hundreds of foreign rescue personnel on Saturday after an earthquake killed more than 1,600 people, the deadliest natural disaster to hit the impoverished, war-torn country in years.
Friday’s 7.7 magnitude quake, among the biggest to jolt the Southeast Asian nation in the last century, crippled airports, bridges and highways amid a civil war that has wrecked the economy and displaced millions :
The death toll in Myanmar climbed to 1,644, the military government said on Saturday, according to BBC Burmese news service.
In neighbouring Thailand, where the quake rattled buildings and brought down a skyscraper under construction in the capital Bangkok, at least nine people were killed.
Survivors in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-biggest city, dug with their bare hands on Friday in desperate attempts to save those still trapped, lacking heavy machinery and with authorities absent.
In Bangkok on Saturday, rescue operations continued at the site of the 33-story tower’s collapse, where 47 people were missing or trapped under the rubble – including workers from Myanmar.
A day after making a rare call for international assistance, Myanmar’s junta chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, travelled to hard-hit Mandalay near the epicentre of the quake, which brought down buildings and triggered fires in some areas.
An initial assessment by Myanmar’s opposition National Unity Government said at least 2,900 buildings, 30 roads and seven bridges had been damaged by the quake.
The control tower at the airport in Naypyitaw, Myanmar’s purpose-built capital city, collapsed, rendering it inoperable, a person with knowledge of the situation told Reuters.
Hospitals in central and northwestern Myanmar were struggling to cope with the influx of injured people, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said, warning that damage to roads was hindering access.
Seventeen cargo trucks of shelter and medical supplies were due to arrive on Sunday to address shortages of medicines, including blood bags and anaesthetics, the agency added.
A Chinese rescue team arrived at the airport in Myanmar’s commercial capital of Yangon, hundreds of kilometres from Mandalay and Naypyitaw, and will travel upcountry by bus, state media said.
Relief supplies from India on a military aircraft also landed in Yangon, according to Myanmar state media, and India’s government said it was also dispatching ships with 40 tonnes of humanitarian aid.
Russia, Malaysia and Singapore were also sending planeloads of relief supplies and personnel.
