Naypyidaw [Myanmar], March 29: Myanmar's ruling junta has called for help after the massive earthquake which killed 144 people in the Southeast Asian country.
Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing said the death toll is "likely to rise."
"In some places, some buildings collapsed," Hlaing said in an address broadcast on state television.
"I would like to invite any country, any organization, or anyone in Myanmar to come and help," Hlaing requested. "Thank you."
The humanitarian catastrophe triggered by the earthquake comes as isolated Myanmar is engulfed in a civil war.
Hlaing, an army general, carried out a coup d'etat on February 1, 2021, deposing the country's civil leadership under the helm of Aung San Suu Kyi. It came months after Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy was victorious in an election, with the military arresting Aung San Suu Kyi and other civilian leaders as part of the coup attempt.
Since the February 2021 coup, the military has been fighting against groups supported by members of the ousted civilian government. Various ethnic armed organizations, such as the Karen National Liberation Army, are also in combat against the junta.
The Myanmar junta said that at least 144 people have died and 732 people have been injured in a powerful quake that struck two cities in the country, Naypyidaw, the capital of the ruling military junta, and Mandalay, the second-largest city in the country.
The tremors from the 7.7 magnitude earthquake were felt as far away as Bangkok, Thailand, where dozens are feared trapped in the rubble after a high-rise building in construction collapsed.
Here's everything to know about the earthquake as we reported the time it struck.
Source: Times of Oman
