* Teams from India, China, Singapore, Thailand on the ground
* Myanmar opposition vows to halt offensive military
operations
for two weeks
* Hospitals in hard-hit parts struggling to cope, says UN
agency
* Some residents say government assistance scare, lack
machinery
for rescue work
BANGKOK, March 30 (Reuters) – Myanmar’s neighbours sent
warships and aircraft laden with relief materials and rescue
personnel on Sunday, as international aid gained steam after a
massive earthquake ravaged much of the poor Southeast Asian
nation.
At least 1,600 people have been killed and 3,400 injured by
Friday’s 7.7-magnitude quake, one of Myanmar’s strongest in a
century, its military government said.
“All military and civilian hospitals, as well as healthcare
workers, must work together in a coordinated and efficient
manner to ensure effective medical response,” said the junta
chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, according to state-run
media.
The U.S. Geological Service’s predictive modelling estimated
Myanmar’s death toll could top 10,000 and losses could exceed
the country’s annual economic output.
The quake jolted parts of neighbouring Thailand, bringing
down an under-construction skyscraper and killing 17 people
across the capital, according to Thai authorities. At least 78
people remained trapped under the debris of the collapsed
building.
The deadliest natural disaster to hit Myanmar in years
damaged critical infrastructure, including an airport, highways
and bridges, slowing humanitarian operations, according to the
United Nations.
‘NO AID, NO RESCUE WORKERS’
The quake hit a nation already in chaos with a civil war
that has escalated since the 2021 military coup, which ousted
the elected government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and
sparked a nationwide armed uprising.
The fighting has battered the largely agrarian economy of
Myanmar, formerly called Burma, displaced over 3.5 million
people and left essential services, such as healthcare, in
tatters.
The opposition National Unity Government, which includes
remnants of the previous administration, said anti-junta
militias under its command would pause all offensive military
actions for two weeks from Sunday.
“The NUG, together with resistance forces, allied
organisations and civil society groups, will carry out rescue
operations,” it said in a statement.
In some of the country’s hardest hit areas, residents told
Reuters that government assistance was scarce so far, leaving
people to fend for themselves.
The entire town of Sagaing near the quake’s epicentre was
devastated, said resident Han Zin.
“What we are seeing here is widespread destruction – many
buildings have collapsed into the ground,” he said by phone,
adding that much of the town had been without electricity since
the disaster hit and drinking water was running out.
“We have received no aid, and there are no rescue workers in
sight.”
Across the Irrawaddy river in Mandalay, a rescue worker said
most operations in the country’s second-largest city were being
conducted by small, self-organised resident groups that lack the
required equipment.
“We have been approaching collapsed buildings, but some
structures remain unstable while we work,” he said, asking not
to be named because of security concerns.
FIELD HOSPITAL
Scores of people were feared trapped under collapsed
buildings across Mandalay but most could not be reached or
pulled out without heavy machinery, another humanitarian worker
and two residents said.
“People are still stuck in the buildings, they can’t take
people out,” said a resident who asked not to be named.
Hospitals in parts of central and northwestern Myanmar,
including Mandalay and Sagaing, were struggling to cope with the
influx of injured people, according to the U.N. Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
India, China and Thailand are among the neighbours that have
sent relief materials and teams, along with aid and personnel
from Malaysia, Singapore and Russia.
Indian military aircraft made multiple sorties into Myanmar
on Saturday, including ferrying supplies and search-and-rescue
crews to Naypyitaw, the purpose-made capital, parts of which
have been wrecked by the earthquake.
The Indian army will help set up a field hospital in
Mandalay, and two navy ships carrying supplies are heading to
Myanmar’s commercial capital of Yangon, said Indian Foreign
Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
Multiple teams of Chinese rescue personnel have arrived,
including one that crossed in overland from its southwestern
province of Yunnan, China’s embassy in Myanmar said on social
media.
A 78-member team from Singapore, accompanied by rescue dogs,
was operating in Mandalay on Sunday, Myanmar state-media said.
(Reporting by Bangkok bureau, Shoon Naing and Wa Lone; Writing
by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by William Mallard)
