BANGKOK (AP) – Basic services have yet to recover to Myanmar’s area in the worst hit of a major earthquake three weeks ago, with paramedics recovering their bodies and cutting down the wreckage fighting against regular aftershocks and lack of resources.
A status report issued by the UN Office or OCHA for UN Humanitarian Cooperation said that frequent, strong aftershocks have continued to shake Central Myanmar almost every day, increasing fear and uncertainty among affected residents, disrupting response efforts and exacerbating pressure on already limited resources and services.
“Three weeks after the catastrophic twin earthquake struck Myanmar on March 28th, the worst communities still lack safe shelters, clean water and sanitation, stable electricity, health care and essential services,” the report said.
The epicenter of the 7.7 magnitude earthquake was near Mandalay, Myanmar’s second largest city, but it struck a wide area of the country and caused major damage to six regions and states, including the capital Naypyitaw.
It also exacerbated the already tragic humanitarian crisis caused by the country’s civil war that internally displaced more than three million people and plagued nearly 20 million people, according to the United Nations.
Quake’s death toll reached 3,726, with 5,105 injured and 129 still missing, according to a report by the state-run Myanma Alinn newspaper released on Saturday. He said 1,975 international rescuers and medical workers from 25 countries have worked with local rescuers to save 653 people and retrieved 753 bodies from under the roof rub.
Myanma Alinn said 65,096 homes and buildings, 2,514 schools, 4,317 Buddhist monastery settlements, 6,027 pagodas and temples, 350 hospitals and clinics, 170 bridges, 586 dams and 203 sections of the country’s main highway were damaged by the earthquake.
The Myanmar Fire Department, the official emergency services agency operating in many parts of the country, said in a statement posted on its Facebook page on Friday that rescue workers had carried out rescue, search and cleaning pieces from the large building, returning the owners valuable gems, cash and documents found among the tiled rubs.
The rescuers also said they had recovered two bodies from the collapsed building in Mandalay.
Officials from the Myanmar Rescue Federation (Mandalay), which operates alongside firefighters, said the three-week priorities since the earthquake will also provide support to survivors affected by the earthquake, while at the same time, the three-week priorities since the earthquake will be to settle the bodies and debris from under the larger buildings.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the number of bodies recovered daily has been reduced to only one or two because he fears arrest for speaking without permission.
Another Emergency Services Worker in Mandalay also said, on condition of anonymity, that the number of rescue teams operating in Mandalay has been steadily decreasing as most international rescue teams returned to their country after work to be considered complete. He said local rescue workers are primarily providing debris cutting and assistance.
Earlier this month, the UN Development Program estimated that at least 2.5 million tonnes of debris from Quake would need to be removed. Based on remote sensing analysis of images obtained by satellites.
UN Habitat, the United Nations Human Residential Organization, said in a statement Friday that its staff and the Myanmar Engineering Association are working to assess the damage to a wide range of buildings in areas affected by the earthquake.
In Naypyitaw, almost all rescuers have stopped rescue operations, but the government buildings damaged by the earthquake have not yet been repaired, remained in post-earthquake conditions and said the residents asked not to name them for security reasons. In residential areas, people are almost done with cleaning up the debris themselves.
A Saturday report at Myanma Alinn said General Min Aung Hlaing, head of the military government, told cabinet members during Friday’s meeting that the city layout of Naypyitaw would be redesigned.
Naypyitaw became Myanmar’s capital in 2006 after being built at a considerable cost from nearly nothing to what was once a farmer-resident logging centre. Notable for its spectacular government buildings and underutilized multi-lane roads.
