The international community sends humanitarian aid. As time as the death toll in Myanmar continues to rise: so far about 1,700 people have lost their lives, while 3,400 have been injured and 300 are missing. This unfortunately confirmed the initial fears expressed by the USGS Institute of USGS following the destructive 7.7 Richter earthquake that hit the Asian country on Friday.

With rescue workshops, however, continuing their work and the extent of the disaster that it cannot be calculated in precisely, the US Geological Survey has updated its estimates, warning that the dead could eventually exceed 10,000 – and its financial loss.

Difficult to work with rescue workshops

The earthquake hit Myanmar at a time when the country is extremely vulnerable, as it is in a civil war in a civil war and because of it and in an acute humanitarian crisis. The civil war has also displaced more than 3 million people according to UN data.

The military regime is unable to address the destruction caused by the earthquake, both at the level of health care of the injured and in terms of repairing material damage.

In some of the earthquake -focus areas, residents themselves undertake the investigation and rescue of the missing, because “there has been no help from the government and there are nowhere to have normal rescuers,” a resident of the city of Shangaging told Reuters.

The UN has warned, for its part, that there are significant shortages of medical equipment and pharmaceutical materials. At the same time, the time margins are getting more narrow – in the case of such natural disasters with dozens of missing, most of the rescues are within the first 24 hours and from there onwards the chances of survival of the trapped are reduced very quickly from time to time.

The international community is mobilized

Following the calls of the military regime to assist in the disaster, the international community responds by sending nursing and medical staff, medical products, as well as the general humanitarian aid worth tens of millions of dollars. Russia and China, allies of the regime, were one of the first countries to send help on Saturday, followed by Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore.

China promised to send humanitarian aid worth $ 13.7 million to the areas of the earthquake – Beijing also sent a rescue group of 82 people, while Hong Kong sent 51 rescuers and nine tonnes of material goods.

The UN Humanitarian Coordination Office (OCHA) said it would immediately allocate $ 5 million to provide a “help that will save lives”, while the EU announced that it would also send essentials worth 2.5 million euros ($ 2.7 million). The United Kingdom has $ 12.9 million to secure “food, water, medicines and roofs”.

In terms of the US, President Trump described the earthquake as “devastating”, adding that Washington would help Myanmar. However, it still remains unclear what the US is going to offer – given USAID cuts.

Sources: BBC, CNN, AP, Reuters