Treatrice of Myanmar: The number of deaths reaches nearly 700 while the search for survivors continues | Myanmar

The number of deaths of a huge earthquake that struck the Myanmar reached almost 700, while the rescuers search the rubble of bursts collapsed in a desperate search for survivors.

The 7.7 coarse shallow earthquake struck in the northwest of the city of Sagaing in the center of the Myanmar in the early afternoon, followed a few minutes later by a replica of 6.7 coarse.

The earthquake destroyed the buildings, shot down of the bridges and completed the roads through the Myanmar bands, with serious damage reported in the second largest city, Mandalay.

At least 694 people were killed and nearly 1,700 injured in the Myanmar Mandalay region – considered the least affected – said the junta in power in a statement. About 10 additional deaths were confirmed in Bangkok, the Thai capital, where a high -rise building under construction collapsed.

But with seriously disrupted communications, the real scale of the disaster has not yet emerged from the isolated state of the military, and the toll should increase considerably.

It was the biggest earthquake to strike Myanmar in more than a century, according to American geologists, and the tremors were powerful enough to seriously damage the buildings in Bangkok, hundreds of kilometers (miles) of the epicenter.

The rescuers of the Thai capital worked overnight in search of workers trapped when a 30-storey skyscraper under construction has collapsed, reduced in a few seconds to a bunch of rubble and metal twisted by the force of the tremor.

Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt told AFP 10 people had been confirmed throughout the city, most skyscrapers collapsed.

But up to 100 workers were still not counted in the building, near the Chatuchak weekend market which is a magnet for tourists.

“We do our best with the resources we have because each life counts,” Chadchart told journalists on the scene.

“Our priority is to act as quickly as possible to save them all.”

Authorities in the city of Bangkok said they would deploy more than 100 engineers to inspect safety buildings after receiving more than 2,000 damage reports.

Up to 400 people were forced to spend the night outdoors in city parks because their houses were not safe to return, said Chadchart.

Significant earthquakes are extremely rare in Bangkok, and Friday tremors have sent buyers and workers rushing into the street in alarm across the city.

Although there was no general destruction, the tremors brought dramatic images of pools on the roof which slid their content to the side of many imposing buildings and hotels in the city.

Even the hospitals were evacuated, a woman delivering her baby outside after being transferred from a hospital building. A surgeon also continued to operate on a patient after having evacuated, ending the operation outside, a spokesman for AFP told.

But the worst damage was in Myanmar, where four years of civil war launched by a military coup have ravaged health and emergency intervention systems.

Map showing the location of the earthquake

The chief of the junta, Min Aung Hlaing, issued an exceptionally rare appeal for international aid, indicating the gravity of calamity. Previous military regimes have avoided foreign assistance even after major natural disasters.

The country declared the state of emergency in the six most affected regions after the earthquake and, in a large capital of the capital, Naycyidaw, the doctors were forced to treat the injured outdoors.

An official described it as a “mass victim zone”.

“I haven’t seen (something) like that before. We are trying to manage the situation. I’m so exhausted now,” a doctor told AFP.

Mandalay, a city of more than 1.7 million people, seemed to have been seriously affected. AFP photos have shown dozens of buildings reduced to rubble.

A resident reached by phone told AFP that a hospital and a hotel had been destroyed and said the city was seriously missing in rescue staff.

An enormous queue of bus and trucks aligned itself at a checkpoint to enter the capital early Saturday.

Friday, foreign assistance offers began to arrive, President Donald Trump promised us help.

“It’s terrible,” said Trump to journalists in the oval office about the earthquake when asked if he would answer the call of the military leaders of Myanmar.

“It’s really bad, and we will help. We have already spoken with the country. ”

India, France and the European Union have proposed to provide assistance, while the WHO said it was moving to prepare for injuries in trauma.