Myanmar Earthquake Kills More than 1,600 (Thailand Deaths)
Kanako Mita, Sawako Utsumi, and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
A powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit Myanmar. Hence, with Mandalay being near the epicenter, the loss of life was bound to be high.
Immediately, buildings began to collapse fully or partially in many parts of Mandalay and the adjoining environs. Indeed, the earthquake was felt in neighboring nations, with deaths reported in Thailand.
The Irrawaddy reports, “It caused significant damage in Magwe, Bago and Naypyitaw regions and Shan State, where multiple buildings, roads, and bridges are reported to have collapsed.”
The death toll is over 1,600 in Myanmar. However, this will likely increase in the following days because many people remain trapped. Also, some people remain unaccounted for.
The BBC reports (Esme Stallard), Myanmar “…is at the convergence of four tectonic plates – the Eurasian plate, the Indian plate, the Sunda plate and the Burma plate – which are all moving in relation to each other. This significantly raises the chances of the region experiencing an earthquake.”
Francesca Capoluongo (International Federation of the Red Cross in Myanmar) said, “The initial estimates suggest that over 18 million people live within the earthquake impacted area, so of course we can expect these figures to keep increasing.”
Capoluongo continued, “The search and rescue is still ongoing. It’s very difficult now to validate any figure, and we know that it will continue to increase and (that) many of these eighteen million people are now without safe shelter, access to clean water, reliable health care.”
Myanmar is blighted by ethnic wars at the best of times. However, the military takeover in 2021 led to a major counterattack that united a broad alliance of ethnic and political groups.
CNN reports, “Across the mighty Irrawaddy river that runs past Mandalay, there is also destruction in Sagaing region, a more rural area, where many live in more flimsy – but more earthquake survivable – wooden and thatched houses.”
Mandalay, Naypyidaw, and Yangon are conurbation areas that lie inside the strike-slip faults of the Sagaing Fault.
At least 26 people have died in Thailand.
AFP – concerning a collapsed building in Bangkok – says, “…up to 100 more construction workers were believed trapped in the rubble of the building, near the sprawling Chatuchak market.
People in Myanmar and Thailand are concerned about aftershocks.
International support is being provided by several nations – with the Russian Federation acting quickly concerning Myanmar.
The death toll is likely to increase in the following days.
Modern Tokyo News is part of the Modern Tokyo Times group
http://moderntokyotimes.com Modern Tokyo Times – International News and Japan News
http://sawakoart.com – Sawako Utsumi and her website – Modern Tokyo Times artist
https://moderntokyonews.com Modern Tokyo News – Tokyo News and International News
PLEASE JOIN ON TWITTER
https://twitter.com/MTT_News Modern Tokyo Times
PLEASE JOIN ON FACEBOOK
http://facebook.com/moderntokyotimes