A powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck near Mandalay, Myanmar, on Friday, leading to mass destruction and a death toll exceeding 1,600. The city experienced severe aftershocks, complicating rescue efforts as residents rummaged through collapsed buildings in search of survivors. Local reports indicated significant physical devastation, with downed bridges and buckled roads. The military junta's communications highlighted 1,644 confirmed deaths, over 3,400 injuries, and numerous missing individuals, though the true impact remains uncertain due to unreliable communication channels in the isolated region.
As dawn broke Sunday, tea shop owner Win Lwin picked his way through the remains of a collapsed restaurant on a main road in his neighbourhood, tossing bricks aside one by one. About seven people died here when the quake struck Friday, he told AFP. I'm looking for more bodies but I know there cannot be any survivors.
The initial 7.7-magnitude quake struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a 6.7-magnitude aftershock. The tremors collapsed buildings, downed bridges and buckled roads, with mass destruction seen in the city of more than 1.7 million people.
Myanmar's ruling junta said in a statement on Saturday that at least 1,644 people were killed and more than 3,400 injured in the country, with at least 139 more missing. But with unreliable communications, the true scale of the disaster remains unclear in the isolated military-ruled state.
The night before, rescuers had pulled a woman out alive from the wreckage of a collapsed apartment building, with applause ringing out as she was carried by stretcher to an ambulance.
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