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LAST UPDATE | 29 Mar
THE DEATH TOLL from a major earthquake in Myanmar has passed 1,600 people, according to state officials, with more than 3,400 injured.
At least 1,644 people were killed and more than 3,400 injured in Myanmar following the 7.7-magnitude earthquake yesterday morning, the country’s ruling military junta said in a statement.
The shallow quake struck northwest of the city of Sagaing in central Myanmar yesterday, causing massive destruction across large parts of the country.
A state of emergency has been declared in six regions including Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city, which was close to the epicentre and where massive destruction has been seen.
While Myanmar state officials have released an estimated death toll, communications are patchy and the true scale of the disaster has yet to emerge, and more deaths are expected.
The quake flattened buildings, downed bridges, and cracked roads across swathes of Myanmar, and even demolished a 30-storey skyscraper under construction hundreds of kilometres (miles) away in Bangkok.
While the full extent of the catastrophe is yet to emerge, the leader of isolated Myanmar, in the grip of a civil war, issued a rare plea for international aid.
“I would like to invite any country, any organisation, or anyone in Myanmar to come and help. Thank you,” junta chief Min Aung Hlaing said in a televised speech, after visiting a hospital in the capital Naypyidaw.
He urged massive relief efforts in the wake of the disaster and said he had “opened all ways for foreign aid”.
This morning, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris announced €6 million in humanitarian assistance for Myanmar.
Ireland will provide €3m to support the work of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Myanmar Red Cross Society who are a pivotal part of the local response.
This is in addition to €1.5m to the Myanmar Humanitarian Fund managed by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) who support national organisations in humanitarian action across Myanmar and €1.5m to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) Joint Response Plan responding already to the urgent needs of displaced Rohingya people.
US President Donald Trump said Washington would be offering assistance.
The United Nations has said that a severe lack of medical supplies is hampering efforts to respond to the deadly earthquake in Myanmar.
The UN said it was mobilising emergency response efforts, alongside humanitarian partner organisations.
“As the full scale of the disaster unfolds, urgent humanitarian assistance is needed to support those affected,” the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said in a statement.
It said the response was being hindered by a lack of medical supplies, along with damaged roads and communications infrastructure.
A 37-member team from the Chinese province of Yunnan reached the city of Yangon early this morning with earthquake detectors, drones and other supplies, while Russia’s emergencies ministry dispatched two planes carrying 120 rescuers and supplies.
India sent a search and rescue team and a medical team as well as provisions, and Malaysia’s foreign ministry said the country will send 50 people tomorrow to help identify and provide aid to the worst-hit areas.
The United Nations’ emergency relief coordinator made an initial allocation of €4.62 million for recovery efforts in the area as the international body works to recover from massive US funding cuts to the region.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said UN staff were working to gather information on the number of people impacted, damage to infrastructure and the scope of the humanitarian needs.
“The earthquake will compound an already dire humanitarian situation in Myanmar, where nearly 20 million people need assistance across the country, including more than 3.5 million people displaced from their homes,” he said.
The earthquake also shook neighbouring Thailand, where eight deaths have been confirmed so far.
Further deaths are expected in Bangkok, after a 30-storey skyscraper under construction collapsed.
An estimated 90 people were inside the building at the time of the collapse.
47 people are still missing in the rubble, Thai authorities said this morning.
Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt said more people were believed to be alive in the wreckage as search efforts continue.
Additional reporting from AFP and Emma Hickey
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