The death toll from last week’s devastating earthquake in Myanmar has risen sharply to over 2,000, the military-led government announced on Monday, as per Al Jazeera.
The official casualty count now stands at 2,056, with an additional 3,900 people injured. In response, the government has declared a week-long mourning period.
The magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck Myanmar at midday on Friday, causing widespread destruction, including significant damage in the capital city of Naypyitaw. A subsequent magnitude 6.4 tremor further compounded the devastation. The epicenter of the earthquake was located approximately 11 miles)west of Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city with a population of nearly 1.5 million.
According to government spokesman Major-General Zaw Min Tun, speaking on state-run MRTV, 270 people remain missing in the Mandalay region. The earthquake’s impact has severely damaged vital infrastructure, including mosques, bridges, and the city’s airport.
The earthquake also caused tremors felt in neighboring Thailand, resulting in at least 18 fatalities. Many of these deaths occurred at a construction site in Bangkok where a partially constructed high-rise building collapsed.
Efforts to locate and rescue survivors are being hampered by a shortage of resources, equipment, and damaged infrastructure. The search and rescue operations are further complicated by daily temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), forcing rescue workers to manually sift through the rubble.
Neighboring countries, including India, China, Malaysia, and Singapore, have responded to the disaster by sending aircraft and warships carrying essential relief supplies. However, telecommunication outages in many affected areas are hindering the accurate assessment of the damage and the true extent of casualties across the region. Experts believe the actual number of those killed and injured is likely far higher than the official figures.
