Death toll in Myanmar earthquake nears 700, with hundreds more injured

Bangkok – Toll of death from a powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake Myanmar On Saturday, about 700 jumped as more bodies were drawn from the wreckage of the buildings who collapsed when they were killed near the second largest city in the country.

The state -run television MRTV reported that according to a state -led government statement, 694 people have now been found dead and another 1,670 injured, 68 others are missing. The same figures were told by independent news site The Irawadi.

Myanmar has been in the throat of a long time and bloody civil war, already responsible for a large -scale humanitarian crisis. It agitates both difficult and dangerous across the country, complicates relief efforts and increases fear that death toll can still grow rapidly.

The earthquake hit a sub -center on Friday with a sub -center away from the troupe, followed by several afterchox, which measures a strong 6.4 magnitude. It dropped the buildings on the ground in many areas, parked on the streets, causing the bridges to collapse and exploded a dam.

Senior General Min Aung Holting, head of Myanmar’s military government, said in a rare television broadcast on Friday that the toll of death was expected to increase as he reported the initial 144 people to be found dead.

In neighboring Thailand, the earthquake rocked more and more Bangkok region, some of some of the 17 million people live in high-growing buildings-and in other parts of the country.

Bangkok city officials said that six people have been found dead so far, 26 injured and 47 are still missing, who are most missing from a construction site near the popular quadruped market in the capital.

When the earthquake occurred, a 33-storey high growth was being constructed by a Chinese firm for the Thai government, then crashed on the ground in a huge pile of dust that sent people shouting and running away from the scene.

President Trump vowed on Friday that Myanmar would be assisted after a huge earthquake in the United States, AFP reported that after a rare petition for the assistance by the ruling jute of the South East Asian nation.

Mr. Trump told reporters at the oval office that he had already talked to the country and “this is a real bad, and we will help.”

After maintaining severe damage in the earthquake, a hospital in Naipitav was struggling to deal with large -scale casualties.

The US Geological Survey and the GFZ Center for GeoSines, Germany, said the first earthquake had a magnitude of 7.7 and had a relatively shallow depth of about 6 miles. Near Mandalay city, according to preliminary reports, its sub -station was in Myanmar. An aftershock with a magnitude of 6.4 shook the area after 12 minutes.

Destruction in Myanmar

Myanmar is in the middle of one Civil war And many areas are not easily accessible. Naypyidaw photographs shown several buildings, which were used for civil servants destroyed by earthquakes, and the rescue team pulling the victims from the debris.

The government said that blood was in high demand in the most difficult areas. The images of deer and torn roads in the collapse of a bridge and dam along with mandal and damaged highways create concern of how rescuers will also reach some areas in a country that are already tolerating a widespread human crisis.

It was not immediately clear whether the ruling military rule would be able to provide relief efforts, but it issued an appeal from the international community for any help including blood supply. The main hospital of the country’s capital, which maintained significant damage, was described as a large -scale casualtime area, as Medics raced to treat the injured in an external triangle area.

The emergency department of the hospital was heavy damaged, and images crushed a car under a concrete roof that covered its entrance.

“Many injured people are coming, I have not seen anything before,” a doctor of convenience told AFP. “We are trying to handle the situation. I’m very tired.”

AFP journalists at the scene said that people were crying in pain and others still lay down as relatives tried to relax.

Security officials at the hospital told AFP, “Hundreds of injured people are coming … but the emergency building here also collapsed.”

According to the videos and photos posted on social media, the powerful temples of the former Royal Palace were damaged in Mandal and other buildings.

In the teak region south-west of Mandalay, a 90-year-old bridge collapsed, and some parts of the highway connecting Yangon, the largest city of Mandle and Myanmar, were also damaged.

A team of AFP journalists was in the National Museum of Naypidav, when the first Templar was killed, and he said that the pieces fell from the roof after the building shaking, and the roads were collapsed.

Construction under-construction in Bangkok

In densely populated Bangkok, Quake shed long buildings and inspired thousands of people to put on the streets across the city. Trading was stopped at the stock exchange and public transport networks were closed at Thai Capital.

The collapsed building was being constructed by the China Railway Construction Corporation for the Government Auditor General of Thailand.

The video posted on social media showed the moment when the 33-storey high height came down, which sent a huge cloud of dust in the air as the workers ran away from the site.

Rescue activist Songwut Wangpon told reporters that seven people were found to be alive, as they had spoken next to a long pile of debris which was once an incomplete building near the popular Chaturchak market in Bangkok.

In Bangkok, water slaps water from the high-growth roof pool on the edges of the buildings as they used to move by the first earthquake, and the debris fell from several skyscrapers.

Thai Prime Minister Patongtern Shinavatra convened an emergency meeting to assess the impact of Templers.

Greater Bangkok region is home to over 17 million people, many of which live in high -rise apartments.

The alarms in the buildings closed when the first earthquake was hit around 1:30 pm, and the staggering residents were pulled down from the thick -populated Central Bangkok with high growth condominium and stairs of hotels.

They remained on the streets, demanding shadow from the afternoon sun in the later minutes of the first earthquake, and was warned to stay out in the event of more afterchox.

Fraser Morton, a tourist from Scotland, said, “Suddenly the entire building started running, screaming immediately and was very nervous.”

“I just started walking peacefully, but then the building started moving really, yes, very shouting, very nervous, people were walking under the escalator incorrectly, a lot of beating and crashed inside the mall.”

Like thousands of others in Bangkok city, Morton sought shelter at Benjasiri Park – away from high buildings around.

“I went out and then looked into the building and the whole building was shaking, dust and debris, it was very intense,” he said. “A lot of chaos.”

Thailand’s disaster prevention department said the first earthquake was felt in almost all areas of the country.