Burma. “Many civilians were killed and injured” as a result of an earthquake

According to the ruling Burma Junta, at least 144 people were killed, and over 730 were injured as a result of a powerful earthquake of 7.7 magnitude, which occurred on Friday. It was the strongest quake in the region since 1946.

The Burmese authorities also announced an extraordinary situation in the Sicong, Mandalaj, Bago and Magway regions, as well as in the eastern part of the state of Shan. The shocks were also felt in Thailand, where they led to Bangkok skyscraper collapse.

Burmese Junta said that “as a result of the earthquake of many civilians were killed and injured.” Junta leader – min Aung Hlaing – visited the hospital in Naypyidaw. During the quake, the entrance to the emergency department collapsed, which is why patients were admitted to hurriedly spread mattresses and field beds in front of the hospital.

– Hospitals in the provinces of Sicong, Mandalaj need blood, which is why donors are asked to immediately contact the appropriate hospitals to donate blood, “Aung Hlaing said in an interview with the local MRTV station.

The destruction affected not only the hospital. Recordings from the International Airport in Mandalaj appeared on the web, where you can see people escaping through a damaged terminal when an alarm ranges around. According to unconfirmed social media reports, the shocks also damaged the runway and flight control tower.

In the evening, rescuers from the central part of the country tried to reach dozens of monks imprisoned under the rubble of the Phaya Taung monastery. A narrow, mountain road leads to the temple complex, which is why access to it has been seriously limited.

Tomasz Augustyniak, a correspondent in the Asia and Pacific region, explained on TVN24 that the greatest destruction in Burma was recorded in the largest cities of the country – Naypyidaw and Mandalaj, but actually from all over the country information about collapsed buildings, roads and bridges flows down.

– There are some government buildings in the ruins, there are reports that infrastructure elements do not operate, among others at the capital airport – he reported.

The expert explained that it is hindered by the fact that the civil war has been going on in Burma for four years. Junta does not control the whole country, and there are fights with ethnic partisans in the country.

– This absolutely hinders both receiving specific information and evacuation. It will certainly make helping people in Burma hinder – he added.

Junta's leader appealed for international humanitarian aid. The Humanitarian Organization Amnesty International appealed to the military to cooperate with help. “This earthquake could not come at a worse moment for Burma. Over three million people remain internally resettled as a result of armed conflict,” said Joe Freeman, a help coordinator in Burma.

“We are afraid that weeks may pass before we know the scale of damage caused by this earthquake,” Mohammed Riyas from the International Emergency Committee said in a communication. “Communication lines do not work, transport is disturbed. Damage to infrastructure and houses, fatalities and injuries suffered by affected communities should not be disregarded” – he noted.

According to Reuters earlier, at least three people died after part of the mosque in the city of Taungnoo in the Bago region collapsed.

– We refused to pray when the quake began … Three people were killed – the eyewitnesses informed.

Local media reported that at least two people were killed and 20 were injured after the hotel collapsed in Aungban. The British daily “Guardian” donated, citing witnesses that at least eight people were killed and many were imprisoned after the building collapsed in the city of Mandalaj. – We ran out of the house when everything began to shake. A five -story building collapsed before my eyes. Everyone in the city went out into the streets, no one dared to go back inside – one of the residents of Mandalaj reported to Reuters.

The first shock took place around 12.40 local time and lasted 30 seconds. Secondary shock, with a magnitude 6.4, occurred 12 minutes later. The epicenter was about 17.2 kilometers from the city of Mandalaj, which has about 1.5 million inhabitants. Local media wrote that people ran out of buildings, some in panic and tears in their eyes, trying to contact their loved ones by phone.

A officer of the Burmese fire brigade cited by the Reuters announced that the search for victims in Ranguna began.

The shocks were felt in the capital of Thailand – Bangkok, as well as in China and India. According to CNN, Chinese social media users in the provinces of Yunnan and Guangxi, which bordered with Burma, said they felt shocks. It is likely that the effects of the earthquake were felt in the mountainous region of the so -called The Golden Triangle, including parts of Burma, Thailand and Laos. A geophysicist from the American National Center for Information about Earth's earthquakes William Yeck in an interview with CNN said that the Friday earthquake in Burma had a similar strength to the one that occurred in Turkey and Syria in 2023. The number of deaths of cataclysis from two years ago is estimated at over 53 thousand.