Four days after a massive earthquake toppled buildings across Myanmar, isolated stories were still emerging Monday of people being pulled alive from the rubble. The confirmed death toll reached at least 2,056, French news agency AFP cited the ruling military junta as saying, and was expected to rise. Getting help to those in need — and even assessing the extent of the destruction — was proving difficult in a country where key infrastructure was badly damaged and where a civil war had already been raging.
The occasional rescue may have helped to keep hope alive over the weekend, but they were the lucky ones. Building after building in Myanmar’s second largest city, Mandalay, and beyond lie in ruins on Monday. Damaged roads, bridges and downed powerlines have made it impossible for rescue teams to reach many communities in the impoverished nation that has been engulfed by war since the junta seized power in a coup four years ago.
Just hours after the big quake struck on Friday, there were reports the junta had carried out airstrikes in rebel-controlled areas that were impacted by the temblor, compounding the misery for survivors.
The junta has maintained its strict controls on foreign journalists entering Myanmar but has appealed for international aid. As of Monday, China, Russia and India had responded with humanitarian supplies and rescue and recovery teams on the ground, along with other regional neighbors.
Stringer/REUTERS
President Trump said the U.S. would be helping, but while America has long played a leading role in international disaster relief, Mr. Trump has gutted foreign aid spending in the first couple months of his second term, including a virtual abolishment of the USAID agency. Programs that would typically have been galvanized to rush in American help could be far less able to provide assistance in the wake of the disaster still unfolding in Myanmar.
Thailand to probe solitary Bangkok building collapse
In neighboring Thailand, meanwhile, serious questions were emerging over the tragedy still playing out on a construction site in the capital city of Bangkok. A 30-story skyscraper that had been under construction was the only tower in the sprawling metropolis that completely failed to withstand Friday’s 7.7 magnitude earthquake and the ongoing aftershocks.
It was reduced to a mountain of rubble within seconds on Friday, killing at least 19 people and leaving 77 still missing as of Monday, after the volunteer rescue organization Fire and Rescue Thailand said another body was pulled from the debris.
Thai authorities have ordered an investigation into the isolated collapse to determine whether it could have been due to inadequate building materials, design flaws or a failure in the inspections and approvals process.
Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt visited the site Monday as heavy machinery pulled at the rubble in hopes of finding more survivors. He said all efforts were focused on finding anyone who might still be saved.
Lauren DeCicca/Getty
“Even one life saved is worth all the effort, so I think we have to move on, carry on,” he said.
But he made it clear that authorities were already thinking about how it could have happened and how to prevent it happening again.
“What’s important in the long-term and medium-term — I think we need to find the root cause so at least we can learn some lessons and improve building regulations,” Chadchart told journalists at the scene. “In the end, we will have some results that will improve safety in Bangkok.”
Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra was among those voicing concern over the weekend about why the skyscraper was the only one to suffer major damage.
“I have questions in my mind,” she said. “What happened from the beginning since it was designed? How was this design approved,” she said. “We have to investigate where the mistake happened.”
The leader confirmed an investigation into the incident, involving a group of experts tasked with providing initial findings within just days.
Some critics have speculated that the steel reinforcement bars used to connect concrete components within the structure may have been too thin, or of insufficient quality. Experts removed several steel rods from the rubble for testing on Monday.
Daniel Ceng/Anadolu/Getty
On Sunday, AFP quoted Thai Industry Minister Akanat Promphan as saying six different types of steel, all from a single manufacturer, had been discovered at the scene.
“The collapse of a building can come from several factors, from design, construction (and) material specification,” Akanat said. “Most important is the standard of the materials.”
Akanat told reporters he’d “found something suspicious” already, but that he’d wait for test results to provide more information.
The project to build the new State Audit Building was a joint venture between a Bangkok-based property developer, the Italian-Thai Development company, and a Chinese state-owned firm, the China Railway No. 10 Engineering Group, which was carrying out much of the actual construction work.
On Sunday, Bangkok Metropolitan Police Major General Noppasin Poonsawat, the deputy commissioner of the force, was quoted by the Bangkok Post as saying officers had questioned four Chinese men who were found removing 32 files from containers behind the collapsed building. The men reportedly had work permits for the site and were employed by a company under the auspices of the Italian-Thai Development firm, Noppasin said.
Noppasin was quoted by the Post as saying the files contained documents with information about contractors and sub-contractors on the project, and that the police had seized the files and then released the Chinese men after questioning.
Lauren DeCicca/Getty
Thai Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters Sunday that he had ordered the establishment of an investigation committee and that he wanted results reported back to him within seven days.
“We will definitely find the true reasons as to why this building has collapsed, because it’s all scientific,” Anutin said.
Hope was fading fast Monday that any more construction workers could be pulled from the rubble alive, but crews using search dogs continued to retrieve the bodies of victims as families keep vigil near the site, refusing to lose hope.
