Myanmar Trewkeake: Moment The rescuers shoot the living woman from the rubble
The number of people known to have died after the devastating earthquake in Myanmar has increased to more than 1,600, with people in certain regions saying to the BBC that they had been left to dig rubble for their loved ones.
A lack of acute equipment, uneven communication networks and roads and nautical bridges also led to the search for survivors.
The earthquake has flattened a large part of Mandalay, the second largest city in the country. There have been applause when the rescuers pulled a living woman from the wreck of a 12-storey building about 30 hours after collapse, but the Red Cross says that more than 90 people can still be trapped there.
In a neighboring canton, the rescuers found the bodies of 12 preschool children and a teacher under a building housing a kindergarten.
The cracks and surface distortions of the main highway between the largest city in Yangon, the capital Non Pyi Taw and Mandalay had caused serious transport disturbances, said the UN OCHA humanitarian agency.
There have also been shortages of medical supplies, including trauma kits, blood bags, anesthetics, essential drugs and tents for health workers, he said.
Although the rescue teams have been at work since yesterday and the international aid has started to enter the country, the aid has not yet reached the most affected areas and ordinary people have tried to dig the survivors in hand.
Widely shared images show two men who move from rubble to a young woman trapped between two concrete slabs.
The BBC spoke to the inhabitants who said that people were screaming with the help of the debris.
Reuters
The Red Cross warned that around 90 people could still be trapped under this apartment in Mandalay
Elsewhere, other rescuers have listened to signs of life. “We can only save people when we hear them,” said one of them.
Earlier Saturday, a rescue team from the canton of Sintkai in the Mandalay Kyaukse district withdrew a number of people trapped in the debris of a private school. Six of them – five women and a man – died when the rescue teams arrived. Among the victims, there were students, teachers and school staff.
A lack of equipment considerably slows down rescues, a worker told BBC Burma: “We are satisfied with the equipment we have. We have been trying for hours to withdraw a girl trapped under the collapsed school.”
Another Mandalay worker told a BBC journalist in Yangon that communication had been almost impossible.
“The main thing is that we do not have internet lines, we do not have telephone lines, so it is very difficult to connect with each other. The rescue team has arrived. But we do not know where it will go, because the telephone lines are broken.”
A Mandalay resident said people were doing their best in chaotic circumstances.
“There is no coordination in the rescue efforts, no one to direct them or tell them what to do. The inhabitants had to fend for themselves. If they find corpses in the debris, they do not even know where to send the bodies;
The junta put the number of damaged buildings in the Mandalay region, the epicenter of the earthquake, more than 1,500. Current failures exacerbated the situation and, according to those responsible, power could take days.
Mandalay airport is not functional because the tracks were damaged during the earthquake. The military council said that he had worked to resume operations and that a temporary hospital, a medical rescue camp and shelter had been installed there.
Provided
The fire station in Sagaing collapsed, crushing the fires
Less than 25 km (15 miles) from Mandalay to Sagaing, the old one of the two bridges connecting the regions completely collapsed and the most recent has developed cracks, cutting access for rescue teams.
“For the moment, there are not enough people even for emergency rescue. We cannot pick up bodies, there are so many people trapped. We cannot cross the bridges, so we are all trapped in the rubble. Help the emergency rescuers to come and save us,” said a local resident at BBC Birman.
The recently built capital Nay Pyi Daw, where the military junta has its headquarters, was struck by replicas and small tremors. The city has experienced significant damage with a high number of victims, collapsed buildings and curly roads.
EPA
Damage to highways like this near Nay Pyi Daw greatly hinder emergency efforts
Meanwhile, even if the junta made a rare international call for help, she continued air strikes and drone attacks against ethnic armies and armed groups he fought in the country’s four -year civil war.
The BBC Burma confirmed that seven people had been killed during an air strike in Naungcho in the northern Shan state. This strike took place around 3:30 p.m., local time, less than three hours after the earthquake.
Pro-democracy rebel groups fighting to withdraw the military from power reported air attacks in the canton of Chang-U in the central sagaing region, the epicenter of the earthquake. There are also reports on air strikes in regions near the Thai border.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, urged the junta to stop the bombing raids.
“The problem is that you still have military operations at the moment … military strikes from the military junta,” he told the BBC.
“I call the junta to stop, to stop one of her military operations. It is completely scandalous and unacceptable.”
The BBC received several images of damaged buildings in the village of Naung Lin, Shan State, where the Junta of the Myanmar junta would have dropped bombs on Friday evening
