TARLAY – Rescue teams struggled Sunday to reach those affected by a powerful earthquake that struck Myanmar’s east three days ago, as aid workers feared the death toll would increase. Officials say 75 people were killed by the 6.8 magnitude quake that hit near the borders with Thailand and Laos late on Thursday, reducing homes and government buildings to rubble and affecting thousands of people.
“As we learn more it appears that the casualty figures will continue to increase,” an aid worker in the country told AFP, asking not to be named. Tachileik town and nearby Tarlay and Mong Lin in Myanmar’s Shan state appeared to have been most severely affected by the quake, which was felt as far away as the Vietnamese capital Hanoi.
“We don’t know how many people were affected yet. We are still trying to get the figures,” a Myanmar official said on Sunday. “Transportation is difficult. We still haven’t reached some areas, we still don’t know what happened to them and we don’t know how many people are living in these mountainous areas,” he added, declining to be named.
An unnamed Red Cross worker in Tachileik told exile news group the Irrawaddy that at least 150 people had been killed, but the official said there was no confirmed increase from Friday’s toll of 74. One woman was also killed in Thailand. The charity World Vision believes around 15,000 people may have been affected in the worst-hit areas.
“One of the things that’s really emerging is water as a critical need. That’s the immediate challenge in addition to temporary shelter,” said Chris Herink, the charity’s Myanmar country director in Yangon. The group, in partnership with the health ministry, is sending tens of thousands of water purification tablets along with first aid kits and emergency shelters and supplies.
Rescuers struggle in quake-hit Myanmar
