A magnitude 7.7 earthquake in Myanmar has left a rising death toll of at least 3,000.
On March 28 at 12:51 p.m., a magnitude 7.7 earthquake hit central Myanmar near its second largest city. It is the strongest earthquake the country has seen in over a century, and the quake even toppled an unfinished high-rise building in Bangkok, Thailand over 1000 km away. The quake is believed to have been shallow, arising at a depth of just 10 km, making its impact even worse.
According to United States Geological Survey (USGS), the Myanmar quake was the result of “strike slip faulting” between the India and Eurasia plates, meaning these two tectonic plates rubbed sideways against each other.
The USGS says the region has experience several similar large strike slip earthquakes in the past, with six occurring within approximately 250 km of the current earthquake since 1900 that were magnitude 7 or greater.
Two hundred Buddhist monks were reportedly crushed by a collapsing monastery, where the floors above fell down onto the men who were taking an exam. 50 children and two teachers were killed when a preschool classroom crumbled, and about seven hundred Muslims were struck while praying at mosques for Ramadan.
Relief efforts have been further hampered by power outages, fuel shortages and spotty communications. A lack of heavy machinery has slowed search-and-rescue operations, forcing many to search for survivors by hand in daily temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius.
On April 3, the death toll surpassed 3,000, with more than 4,500 injured and about 270 people still missing. The actual numbers are expected to be much higher and continue to rise as searches continue.
Most hospitals received damage but are still standing, but they’re struggling to cope with the influx of injured people. There is also a shortage of medical supplies, food and clean water. The damaged airports make it difficult for supplies and rescue teams to reach the most heavily affected areas. Damaged roads and traffic also make it challenging for help to arrive; a convoy of 17 Chinese cargo trucks carrying critical shelter and medical supplies took over 14 hours to arrive. For the most part, rescue efforts have been made up of local volunteers trying to locate loved ones.
In Naypyidaw, workers pulled a man from the rubble more than 100 hours after the quake, a miraculous rescue that offered a rare moment of hope. The man appeared tired and disheveled as he was pulled out of an air pocket between broken slabs of concrete to a round of applause. Other rescue efforts have succeeded in digging out citizens trapped under rubble. A 62-year-old woman was similarly pulled from broken slabs of concrete in Naypyidaw.
On March 31, three days after the quake, a team of Chinese rescuers pulled four people — including a five-year-old child and a pregnant woman — from the rubble.
Aftershocks have concerned and frightened citizens for days after the quake. On April 1, tremors still occurred on occasion, keeping citizens on-edge: “Many people are still sleeping out in the open on the streets or in the parks because they are too scared to go back into their homes,” said UN World Food Programme Country Director Michael Dunford.
More than 10,000 buildings were destroyed or severely damaged.
Even before the quake, four years of civil war had left millions with inadequate shelter, battered health and poor infrastructure. The country already needed humanitarian aid, meaning the quake could exacerbate hunger and disease outbreaks, the U.N warns, and the civil war complicates rescue efforts. One group has declared a partial ceasefire, but the government and other armed groups have not stopped fighting. The government has lost control over large parts of Myanmar, making many areas hazardous or inaccessible to aid organizations even before the earthquake. According to the U.N., the ongoing conflict has displaced over 3 million people.
With monsoon season starting in May, finding shelter is expected to be a major challenge for citizens.
Rescue teams from multiple countries, including Russia, China, India and several Southeast Asian nations, are on the ground. Meanwhile, the European Union, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and others have pledged millions of dollars in aid.
Despite significant budget cuts and layoffs at the U.S. Agency for International Development, which oversees global humanitarian efforts, the U.S. Embassy announced that a team of experts was on its way to Myanmar. The embassy also stated it would provide up to $2 million in assistance through local organizations.
As the days pass, rescue hopes have started to dwindle. Myanmar observed a minute of silence at 12:51 p.m. local time April 1, the exact moment the earthquake struck on March 28 three days earlier.