A hotel worker was pulled out from beneath the Myanmar earthquake rubble in the early hours of this morning. The 26-year-old was shockingly found alive as he was rescued by a joint Myanmar-Turkish team. Footage from the country’s fire service department shows the man lifted through a hole in the rubble as authorities swiftly attended to him. The death toll from the natural disaster has risen to 2,719, with more than 4,500 injured – however, this could increase as 441 people are still missing.
On Friday, a 7.7-magnitude earthquake, one of the deadliest to ever strike the country, hit Myanmar. The huge tremor hit close to the city of Mandalay at about 12.50pm local time on March 28. The natural disaster caused extensive damage across the country but also affected neighbouring Thailand and southwest China.
Thousands of people have been left displaced as buildings and homes were flattened across the nation. Roads were buckled, bridges were damaged and many iconic and sacred structures collapsed, including the Mahamuni Pagoda Buddhist temple.
However, an ongoing civil war in Myanmar has made rescue efforts and the spread of information even more difficult. The ruling junta seized power in February 2021, with large parts of the country being embroiled in a deadly conflict. The state controls nearly all media outlets, with the use of the internet also restricted, meaning the true scale of the disaster has yet to become clear.
International aid from China and India began to arrive after the military issued a rare appeal for help. The United Nations (UN) appealed for £6.2 million as hospitals were both damaged and overwhelmed.
The UN special envoy on Myanmar, Julie Bishop, urgently called on all parties to “focus their efforts on the protection of civilians, including aid workers, and the delivery of life-saving assistance”.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said: “The earthquake’s devastation has overwhelmed healthcare facilities in the affected areas, which are struggling to manage the influx of injured individuals. There is an urgent need for trauma and surgical care, blood transfusion supplies, anaesthetics, essential medicines, and mental health support.”
