The budget of the victims in Bangkok of the violent earthquake that hit Myanmar and Thailand went up to 17. The city authorities affirmed it. The Bangkok metropolitan authority said 32 people were injured and 83 are still dispersed, mostly in the 30 -storey tower construction site collapsed in Friday’s earthquake.
Panic on the street in Mandalay
The new strong scar of settlement that occurred this morning caused Panico to Mandalay. The 5.1 magnitude shock was recorded by the American Geological Institute at 14:00 local time (9:30 in Italy). People took the street again and the searches for survivors at the collapses on Friday were briefly interrupted. Last night, a woman was extracted from the rubble.
New shocks up to a magnitude of 5.1
Two earthquakes have followed each other in the last few hours in Myanmar, after the very powerful ones (7.7 and 6.4) on Friday: at 10.20 local (03.50 Italian) the American Geosismic Institute (USGS) recorded a magnitude 5.1 earthquake near the capital Naypyidaw at a depth of 10 km, preceded by about 9 hours from a 4.2 to ShWeb, about 70 km. North of Mandalay.
Over 1600 victims broken by the earthquake
The budget of the victims, as it was feared, has grown exponentially: over 1,600 lives broken by the violent earthquake that on Friday morning put my knee the Myanmar by crumbling houses, schools, bridges and religious sites.
For the second consecutive day, the rescuers sought survivors between the rubble and in the meantime the international aid machine has also been mobilized, but with the passing of the hours the figures of the disaster risk worsening further. It is a huge challenge for the country of Southeast Asia, one of the poorest in the world, forced to isolation from the military junta. Which regardless of the emergency, continues to launch air attacks against the rebel groups.
The Burmese authorities have declared the state of emergency in six regions, but the research between the debris focus on Mandalay, close to the epicenter of the earthquake, which was visited by the Head of State, the General Min Aung Hlaing. In the capital, which is the second city of the country, the Red Cross reported at least 90 people who were trapped after the collapse of a 12 -storey building, and at some point it was possible to extract a woman alive after 30 hours. A miracle, which however with the flow of hands risks remaining an isolated case, or almost.
Among the symbols of the tragedy, the discovery of the bodies of 12 preschool children and a teacher, among the remains of kindergarten. At the time of the earthquake, there would have been about sixty children and seven teachers in the building. The fury of the earthquake did not spare even the country’s cultural heritage. This is the case, for example, of an ancient pagoda, always in Mandalay: “He started to tremble, then collapsed”, said a soldier who was in place of blocking outside the temple: “A monk died, and there are also wounded extracted from the rubble”, his testimony. The damage and fear of new shocks have pushed thousands of people to spend the night on the street or in open spaces. Air traffic also paralyzed: they closed the Mandalay airport and that of the capital Naypyitaw, where the control tower fell.
At the moment, in addition to the victims, there are at least 3 thousand collapsed buildings, but it is difficult to predict the final budget. An analysis of the USGS does not exclude the worst of the scenarios: there is a 35% probability that the number of deaths is between 10,000 and 100,000, while the financial cost for the country could reach dozens of billions of dollars, exceeding national GDP. To worsen the situation there is the dilapidated health infrastructure. The UN humanitarian affairs office warned that “a serious lack of medical supplies” is hindering the response to the emergency. In particular “traumatological kit, blood bags, anesthetics, assistance devices, essential medicines and curtains for health workers”. Among other things, it is underlined, the hospitals have undergone huge damage or have been destroyed and the interruptions to telecommunications and the Internet “continue to hinder humanitarian operations”.
The fury of the earthquake has invested a country already prostrated by the economic crisis and a conflict between the military returned to power with a coup in 2021 and rebellious groups, which caused the displacement of over three million people. And not even the earthquake stopped hostilities: according to People’s Defense Force, the militia fighting against the junta for a return to democracy, the regime continued to carry out air attacks in different regions. A recent investigation conducted by the BBC has revealed that the army controls less than a quarter of the country, and that to regain launch land massive raid using Russian and Chinese jets. Attacks condemned by the UN, which speaks of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the border, in Thailand, the Prime Minister of the Lake Shinawatra assured that the country “returned to normal” after the earthquake, which also had an impact Bangkok. According to the authorities, only a building in the capital collapsed, the 30 -storey building under construction crumbled in a few seconds after the first shock. On the spot the research teams alternated relentlessly looking for survivors. Eleven people were found, but dozens are still dispersed.