A rescue worker in Mandalay City, Myanmar, said the death toll from the earthquake disaster “cannot be counted at this time”.
According to the latest update from Myanmar on the evening of March 30, the death toll from the March 28 earthquake has risen to about 1,700, while more than 3,400 others were injured and 300 people are missing, with warnings that the number of casualties could rise further.
However, a rescue worker at the epicenter of Mandalay, who asked not to be named, said: “There are still countless people trapped and missing. The death toll is currently impossible to count because there are too many people trapped and unidentified, if alive.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) report on the morning of March 31 also said that the scale of casualties “has not been fully updated” and predicted that the number of victims could be highest in urban areas of Mandalay, Sagaing and Naypyidaw.
Rescue workers and residents in Mandalay City said teams are currently using gloves, ropes and basic digging tools to search for people in the rubble due to a lack of heavy machinery.
This will make it difficult for them to reach many people trapped deep inside collapsed buildings.
Myanmar’s Department of Meteorology and Hydrology reported 34 aftershocks, many of them strong, adding to the crisis.
The devastation is widespread and humanitarian needs are growing by the hour, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
The situation is expected to worsen in the coming weeks with rising temperatures and adverse weather changes due to the monsoon. Therefore, the agency believes that there is an urgent need to stabilize affected communities before secondary crises emerge.
Many residents and rescue teams in the disaster area also said they have yet to receive aid.
“With bridges destroyed, even aid in Mandalay is difficult to receive,” the Sagaing Hluttaw Union, a political association linked to Myanmar’s military government, said on Facebook.
The unit also said that food and medicine are currently unavailable.
Xinhua reported early on March 31 that some of the country’s aid had reached the earthquake area, along with updated information and images of rescue teams working in the disaster area, including the epicenter of Mandalay and the neighboring capital Naypyidaw.
Previously, the country sent three rescue teams with many vehicles to Myanmar. They had to land in Yangon.
Access to Mandalay is said to be difficult as the main highway connecting Yangon and the city has been badly damaged.
The major airport in one of the two main affected cities, Naypyidaw, has been closed since the disaster, after the earthquake brought down the air traffic control tower.
However, one of the Chinese rescue teams said they had reached Naypyidaw on the evening of March 29.
Rescue forces, aid supplies as well as many financial support commitments from other countries continue to flow to Myanmar, including from India, Russia, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Russia, Vietnam…
Also on March 30, the US pledged a specific amount of $2 million in assistance “through humanitarian assistance organizations based in Myanmar”, as well as sending an emergency team from USAID to the disaster area.
Earlier, right after the earthquake, US President Donald Trump affirmed in a press conference that he had talked with Myanmar and would provide support.
WHO provides nearly 3 tons of medical supplies
On the morning of March 31, WHO said it had provided nearly 3 tons of medical supplies to hospitals in Naypyidaw and Mandalay.
The cargo, which includes first aid kits and multi-purpose tents, has been delivered to a 1,000-bed hospital in Naypyidaw and will soon reach Mandalay General Hospital, the two main medical facilities working to treat the injured.
WHO is preparing a second batch of “Multi-sectoral Emergency Medical Kits.” Each kit includes enough supplies to treat 10,000 people for three months.