ROME (ITALPRESS) – People in Myanmar continue to dig through the rubble hoping to find people alive. The UN reports that some 20 million people are affected by the earthquake that has devastated the country. The number of confirmed dead at the moment is 1,600. And meanwhile, a new 5.1-magnitude quake has been recorded near Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city. It is the latest in a series of aftershocks following Friday’s devastating 7.7-magnitude earthquake.
“The quake affected an area where 18 million people live, not counting the displaced people. On the victims, we refer to the official figures, but we are certain that they will increase again,” explains, interviewed by la Repubblica, Francesca Capoluongo, a delegate of the International Federation of the Red Cross, who is in Yangon, 600 kilometers from Mandalay. “From our teams,” she says, “come tales of horror. Collapsed buildings, roads, bridges, temples. Neighborhoods obliterated.” The emergency for now, he stresses, is “the search for survivors. But there is a lack of means, resources, even electricity.” In Mandalay alone there are an estimated nearly 7 million children: “We have already started our protocols to try to reunite the families that the earthquake has divided, as well as to figure out the number of missing,” he reports. “Lonely children could increase exponentially in a country where many households have already been broken by displacement due to the conflict. Elderly people, children and women are in the cities, many young people are in the forests.” “There are thousands of wounded and millions of people without homes, without access to water, potable or otherwise,” he adds. “Everything is needed to provide shelter to those without. And the situation is going to get worse because the next few months will be the months of great heat.” “As an international federation we work with the local Red Cross, plus delegations from other countries. We have mobilized 400 workers and more than 7,000 volunteers, but they are nowhere near enough.” And when asked if there is any small miracle that has lifted morale, he replies, “Unfortunately, no. We are mostly pulling victims out. Rescuers are at their wits’ end. The Junta’s openness to humanitarian aid is a positive sign. We need reinforcements.”
– Ipa agency photo –
(ITALPRESS).
In Myanmar, people dig through rubble in search of earthquake survivors
