• Teams from India, China, Singapore and Thailand are on the ground.
• The opposition vowed to stop the offensive military operation for two weeks.
• Residents say the government has paniced and lacks machinery for rescue work.
  

Myanmar’s neighbors sent warships and planes filled with relief materials and rescue workers on Sunday as international aid gained momentum after a massive earthquake struck most of the poor Southeast Asian countries.

Its military government said at least 1,600 people were killed and 3,400 injured, and by Friday’s 7.7-magnitude earthquake, one of the strongest earthquakes in a century.

Myanmar media said: “All military and civilian hospitals and medical staff must work together in a coordinated and effective manner to ensure an effective medical response.”

The U.S. Geological Service predicted modeling estimates that Myanmar’s death toll could exceed 10,000 and the losses could exceed the country’s annual economic output.

Thai authorities said the earthquake shocked parts of neighboring Thailand, lowered a shortage of skyscrapers and killed 17 people in the capital. At least 78 people were trapped under debris from collapsed buildings.

According to the United Nations, the deadliest natural disasters that have hit Myanmar in years have damaged critical infrastructure, including airports, roads and bridges, slowing humanitarian action.

“No aid, no rescuers”

Since the 2021 military coup, the civil war has escalated into a civil war, tremors have struck a country that expelled the government of elected Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi and triggered a nationwide armed uprising.

The battle struck Myanmar’s main agricultural economy, formerly known as Myanmar, displaced 3.5 million people and left behind basic services such as health care.

The opposition’s National Unity Government, which includes remnants of the previous administration, said the anti-militia would cease all offensive military operations within two weeks from Sunday.

“Nug, resistance, allied groups and civil society groups will carry out rescue operations,” it said in a statement.

Residents tell some of the hardest areas in the country Reuters The government has little assistance, which makes people boycott themselves.

Han Zin, a resident, said the entire town of Sagaing near the epicenter of the earthquake was damaged.

“What we’re seeing here is extensive destruction – many buildings have collapsed,” he said on the phone, adding that the town has had no electricity most of the time since the disaster hit and drinking water was exhausted.

“We have not received any assistance and we cannot see the rescuers.”

A rescuer said in the Irrawaddy River throughout Mandalay that most of the operations in the country’s second-largest city were carried out by small, self-organized residents who lacked the equipment needed.

“We’ve been approaching collapsed buildings, but some of the structures are still unstable when we work,” he said.

On-site hospital

Another humanitarian worker and two residents said dozens of people were trapped in buildings throughout Mandalay and were trapped under collapsed buildings, but most people could not reach or pull out without heavy machinery.

“People are still trapped in buildings; they can’t take people out,” said one resident who asked not to be named.

The United Nations Office for Coordinating Humanitarian Affairs said hospitals in parts of central and northwestern Myanmar are working to cope with the influx of injured people.

India, China and Thailand are neighbors sending relief materials and teams, as well as aid and personnel from Malaysia, Singapore and Russia.

Indian military aircraft conducted various forms to Myanmar on Saturday, including ferry supplies and search and rescue personnel Naypyitaw, the capital of the destination, part of which has been damaged by an earthquake.

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said Indian troops will help establish a field hospital on Mandalay Island, with two naval vessels carrying supplies heading to Yangon, Myanmar’s commercial capital.

China said on social media at the Myanmar embassy that multiple Chinese rescue workers have arrived, including one that crossed the land from its southwestern Yunnan province.

Myanmar media said a team from Singapore operated on Mandalay Island by a team of 78 Singapore accompanied by rescue dogs.