Myanmar: Nearly 90 people trapped in rubble of earthquake-hit apartment building

Over 90 people are trapped in the debris of an apartment block in Myanmar’s Mandalay as rescue operations continue a day after a powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck the country.

A Red Cross official told AFP that the Sky Villa Condominium was among the buildings worst hit by the tremors, with several of its 12-storey towers pancaked one on top of the other.

“Nine people are dead and 44 have been extracted alive,” the Red Cross official at the scene told AFP, requesting anonymity.

“More than 90 people could be inside. We are still collecting data as people keep informing us they are looking for their missing family members.”

The Condo, which was originally a 12-storey building, has been reduced to six floors by the quake, with the cracked pastel green walls of the upper floors perched on the crushed remains of the lower levels. A woman’s body stuck out of the wreckage, her arm and hair hanging down.

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1,000 dead

More than 1,000 people have died, and over 2,000 are injured, the ruling junta said in a statement on Saturday. In Bangkok, which was also hit by yesterday’s earthquake, nearly people have reportedly died.

A centuries-old Buddhist pagoda in Mandalay was reduced to rubble, and a monk was killed when a monastery collapsed. Many residents are afraid to sleep indoors, fearing further tremors.

This was the biggest quake to hit Myanmar in decades, according to geologists, and the tremors were powerful enough to severely damage buildings across Bangkok, hundreds of kilometres (miles) away from the epicentre.

PM Modi speaks to junta chief

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with Myanmar’s junta leader Min Aung Hlaing on Saturday to express condolences over the deaths and devastation and offered to help.

“Spoke with Senior General HE Min Aung Hlaing of Myanmar. Conveyed our deep condolences at the loss of lives in the devastating earthquake. As a close friend and neighbour, India stands in solidarity with the people of Myanmar in this difficult hour,” PM Modi said in a post on X.

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India has sent a contingent of 80 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel for relief and rescue works in earthquake-hit Myanmar, officials here said Saturday.

The personnel of the federal disaster contingency force are being deployed under ‘Operation Brahma’ with quake rescue equipment like strong concrete cutters, drill machines, hammers etc. to provide succour to the neighbouring country.

With inputs from agencies