* According to Myanmar’s State Administration Council, by Sunday about 1,700 people have been reported killed, 3,400 injured, and 300 missing in the massive 7.9-magnitude earthquake that struck the country and its neighbors on Friday.
* “We have lost so many family members. There aren’t many of us left,” a retired high school teacher said.
* In Mandalay, more than 100 young overseas Chinese volunteers in Myanmar have started providing technical, information and logistical support such as collecting information under the guidance of the professional rescue team.
NAY PYI TAW/MANDALAY, March 31 (Xinhua) — Following the devastating earthquake in Myanmar, multiple Chinese rescue teams have arrived in the disaster-stricken areas, working with local responders around the clock to search for survivors.
So far Chinese teams have rescued six survivors in severely-hit Nay Pyi Taw and Mandalay. The rescuers combed through the ruins of apartments, hotels and hospitals to find signs of life. Continuous aftershocks, power cuts, destroyed roads and communication interruptions made their rescue work even harder.
Meanwhile, more Chinese rescue teams are heading to Myanmar, bringing in earthquake experts, structural engineers, medical personnel and canine units, as well as life detectors, demolition equipment and field hospital systems.
According to Myanmar’s State Administration Council, by Sunday about 1,700 people have been reported killed, 3,400 injured, and 300 missing in the massive 7.9-magnitude earthquake that struck the country and its neighbors on Friday.
SURVIVORS RESCUED
Early on Monday, the China Search and Rescue Team found a woman at a collapsed hotel in Mandalay city after more than five hours of intense work. The survivor had been trapped for nearly 60 hours and had good vital signs when rescued.
At another site, members of China’s Blue Sky Rescue Team worked with local volunteers and recovered a survivor on Sunday.
Satellite images showed that countless buildings were reduced to rubble in the city, located less than 20 km from the epicenter.
In the capital Nay Pyi Taw, a 37-member rescue and medical team from China’s Yunnan Province arrived on Saturday evening with emergency supplies such as full-function life detectors, earthquake early warning systems, portable satellite phones and drones.
The team, alongside local rescuers, rescued an elderly man trapped for nearly 40 hours under the rubble of Ottara Thiri Private Hospital after an emergency rescue operation overnight.
On Sunday morning, Myanmar’s State Administration Council Chairman Senior General Min Aung Hlaing visited the hospital and expressed his appreciation to members of the Chinese rescue team for their timely assistance.
CHALLENGES AHEAD
Mandalay’s Sky Villa is among the most severely affected structures in the city. Two apartment buildings have completely collapsed, and another 12-story building was reduced to six stories by the earthquake, burying many.
Among the anxious onlookers was Daw Nan Mya Aye, a 65-year-old retired high school teacher. She stood with a composed yet weary expression, her hands tightly clasped in front of her.
“Our house had 11 people. When the quake struck, I wasn’t home — I had just returned from a meditation center and was staying at my daughter’s place. My niece and nephew were also at work,” she recalled.
As of Sunday evening, two of her family members had been pulled from the rubble. One of them was her 76-year-old sister. Her 14-year-old niece, badly injured with broken hip bones, was sent to hospital.
“We have lost so many family members. There aren’t many of us left,” she said softly.
At dawn on Monday, a woman was pulled out from the rubble of a condominium after hours of rescue efforts by the China Search and Rescue Team and a civilian team from RAMUNION RESCUE.
A girl and a pregnant survivor were also pulled out at the Sky Villa quake scene soon after.
Despite challenges like confined working areas, frequent aftershocks, residual fires and dense smoke, local and international rescuers are racing against time, hoping to save more people as the crucial 72-hour window of earthquake rescue closes.
HOPE ENDURES
Among the brave rescuers is 19-year-old Pyae Phyo Aung, a member of Myat Thada Rescue. Since 2016, he has dedicated himself to saving lives, but he said nothing has tested him like this disaster.
“We are rescuing people trapped in the rubble — some with their legs pinned, some buried up to their waists, and others completely covered,” he said. “We prioritize saving the living before retrieving the dead.”
His team alone has saved 11 people so far, he said.
In Mandalay, more than 100 young overseas Chinese volunteers in Myanmar have started providing technical, information and logistical support such as collecting information under the guidance of the professional rescue team.
Officials from the Myanmar rescue department also briefed the rescue team on Myanmar’s arrangements for international rescue efforts.
Li Wenyang, a member of the China Blue Sky Rescue Team, said they plan to divide the city into several search areas to let volunteers collect information on missing persons, survivors and casualties, so as to facilitate planning and assessment for the incoming rescue forces.
On Sunday afternoon, a chartered flight took off from Kunming, the capital of China’s Yunnan Province, carrying approximately 7.3 tons of relief supplies for Myanmar, including clothes, medicines, instant noodles, tents and other daily necessities. This was the second batch of provincial-level relief supplies that Yunnan has sent to Myanmar.
On Sunday night, 118 members of the China International Search and Rescue Team arrived in Nay Pyi Taw, while on Monday morning, the first batch of emergency humanitarian earthquake relief supplies provided by the Chinese government to Myanmar departed from Beijing. ■
