The Myanmar earthquake aftermath’s tragic development sees no end as state media announced Monday that the death toll after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake had crossed 2,000. With more accounts of crushing deaths coming from the country in mourning, it was revealed that 200 Buddhist monks were killed by a collapsing monastery. The UN humanitarian agency revealed that over 10,000 buildings in central and northwest Myanmar are collapsed or severely destroyed.
In an even more shell-shocking reveals, it was reported that 50 children and two teachers were killed after Friday’s Myanmar earthquake dealt a crumbling blow to a preschool classroom in Mandalay district.
Myanmar earthquake devastates country’s humanitarian crisis
Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, leader of the military government, told Pakistan’s prime minister during a call that the earthquake killed 2,065 people, injured over 3,900 and on top of that about 270 are missing. These numbers are expected to rise dramatically. Rescue workers digging for bodies at the collapse U Hla Thein monastery in Mandalay informed that they were still looking for about 150 dead monks.
Lauren Ellery, deputy director of programs in Myanmar for the International Rescue Committee, told The Associated Press that full extent of the destruction’s scale wasn’t clear. She also shared that 80% of the buildings reportedly collapsed in a town near Mandalay. “It wasn’t in the news because telecommunications have been slow,” Ellery added.
Moreover, 700 Muslims lost their lives while offering Ramadan prayers at mosques, according to AP News. Tun Kyi, a member of the steering committee of the Spring Revolution Myanmar Muslim Network, said that about 60 mosques were destroyed due to the powerful earthquake that struck the country this past Friday, with Mandalay — Myanmar’s second largest city — as the epicentre, per Myanmar state MRTV’s report.
Nearly 20 million people were already in need of humanitarian assistance even before Myanmar earthquake
Aid groups and the United Nations have since also warned that the latest Myanmar earthquake instance could worsen the country’s humanitarian crisis, which is already ongoing because of civil war. “Even before this earthquake, nearly 20 million people in Myanmar were in need of humanitarian assistance,” said Marcoluigi Corsi, the U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator.
Search-and-rescue and relief operations have been impeded by a lack of heavy machinery in addition to slow telecommunications. Power outages and fuel shortages are also to blame. The World Health Organisation has sounded the alarm for an “urgent need for trauma and surgical care, blood transfusion supplies, anesthetics, essential medicines and mental health support.”
Global support has poured in to aid the Myanmar earthquake relief process. Rescue teams from Russia, India, China, several Southeast Asian countries and more are hard at work. Meanwhile, the European Union, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and other countries have donations worth millions of dollars.