Myanmar was hit earlier today by a 7.7 magnitude earthquake — felt also in Thailand, China, India, and Vietnam. A quake of this size is of course never good, but as Amnesty International’s Myanmar expert Joe Freeman says, this “could not come at a worse time” for the country, as “over a third of the population will need humanitarian assistance this year [while] impacts of US aid cuts are just starting to bite.”
At least 144 people have died, and 732 injured, with rescue operations continuing in Bangkok and elsewhere. “The scale of the damage,” reports the Guardian, “is yet to become clear, though social media footage emerging from central regions has shown many buildings collapsed or damaged.”
The quake’s epicenter was near Mandalay, with that city and Sagaing taking on a great deal of damage. Even the famed Bagan temples, near Sagaing, have been further compromised after first sustaining significant damage in 2016’s earthquakes there.
The British Red Cross has launched a Myanmar Earthquake Emergency Fund; you can contribute to it here:
https://donate.redcross.org.uk/appeal/myanmar-earthquake-emergency
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