PrashantNews
There is no respite from earthquakes in Myanmar. Yet another earthquake on Sunday rocked Myanmar’s second largest city Mandalay, the epicentre of the Friday’s devastating temblor which flattened many buildings killing nearly 1644 people.
The new tremor with magnitude 5.1 hit Mandalay around 1238 hours on Sunday with a shallow depth of 10 km, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.
In a swift response, the Indian Army has launched the operation Brahma by deploying a specialized medical task force to provide urgent humanitarian aid. A 118 member team of Airborne Angels from the elite Shatrujeet Brigade Medical Responders has departed for Myanmar with essential equipment, the army said.
A 5.1 magnitude earthquake rocked Nay Pyi Taw area in Myanmar on Saturday at around 1450 hours.
Elsewhere, the rescue efforts continued on war-footing as the international agencies joined the operation to find survivors in the two countries. Media reports said thousands of people were sleeping on streets.
So far 1644 people have been reported killed in Myanmar and over 3400 missing in the earthquakes, media reports said.
A total of 7 earthquakes ranging from 4.5 to 7.7 magnitudes were reported in a short gap of four hours in Myanmar alone on Friday. The first massive earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale struck at around 1150 hours. The USGS said the quake had a depth of 10 km, with its epicenter located about 17.2 km from Myanmar’s second-largest city, Mandalay, which has a population of about 1.2 million.
Horrific videos of several buildings collapsing were widely seen on X and other social medial platform. Some videos just resembled the scenes of the 9/11 twin building collapse in New York.
In Bangkok, a high-rise under construction collapsed, killing at least three and leaving over 90 missing. The Thai capital has been declared a disaster area. Myanmar’s ruling military also declared a state of emergency in multiple regions, media reports said.
In Myanmar, multiple buildings collapsed, including Ma Soe Yane monastery, one of the largest in the country, and damaged the former royal palace and government housing in Naypyidaw. Roads cracked, a bridge collapsed, and a dam burst, leading to flooding in low-lying areas. In Sagaing region just southwest of the city, a 90-year-old bridge collapsed, and some sections of the highway connecting Mandalay and Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon, were also damaged.
Caption: Mahamuni Budha temple collapsed in Mandalay after the Friday’s devastating earthquake