By Kolawole Ojebisi
No fewer than 144 people were reportedly killed while over 730 got injured as 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck Myanmar on Friday.
The quake, which was centered near the city of Mandalay, triggered a strong aftershock of 6.4 magnitude and sent tremors across Thailand and into China.
In a televised speech on Friday, Aung Hlaing, head of Myanmar’s military government, said the death toll and injuries are “expected to rise”.
Myanmar, one of Asia’s poorest nations, is grappling with the aftermath of a civil war sparked by a 2021 military coup.
International groups have called on Myanmar’s ruling military junta to allow access to humanitarian aid.
Joe Freeman, Amnesty International’s Myanmar researcher, said the earthquake could not come at a worse time for Myanmar with more than three million people internally displaced from armed conflict that has raged since the military coup.
“Central Myanmar, which is believed to be the epicenter of the earthquake, has been ravaged by military air strikes and clashes between resistance groups and the military,” he said in a statement.
“Myanmar’s military has a longstanding practice of denying aid to areas where groups who resist it are active. It must immediately allow unimpeded access to all humanitarian organizations and remove administrative barriers delaying needs assessments.
“In a country where the military has banned many media outlets and internet access is restricted, we may not have a clear picture of the extent of damage and loss for some time.
“That there appear to be more images and information coming out of Thailand than the epicenter in Myanmar is a startling reminder of the military’s crushing of press freedom since the 2021 coup.”
Friday’s earthquake is the first 7.0-magnitude or greater earthquake in Myanmar since 1991.
The last time there was a quake on land of such magnitude was the 2023 Turkey earthquake, which reportedly killed more than 50,000 people.
