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Myanmar hospitals overwhelmed as deaths from cataclysmic earthquake surge past 1,700: ‘The scale of deaths and injuries is not yet fully understood’

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The death toll from the earthquake that hit Myanmar has risen to more than 1,700 as more bodies have been pulled from the rubble, the country’s military-led government said Monday.

Government spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun told state-run MRTV that another 3,400 have been injured and more than 300 were missing. The military had previously reported 1,644 dead but did not provide specific figures in its update.

The 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit at midday Friday, causing widespread damage, including in the capital Naypitaw and the second largest city, Mandalay.

It was the time of Friday prayers for the country’s Muslim minority during the holy month of Ramadan, and some 700 worshippers were killed when mosques collapsed, said Tun Kyi, a member of the steering committee of the Spring Revolution Myanmar Muslim Network. It was not clear whether they were already included in the official count of casualties.

Tun Kyi said some 60 mosques were damaged or destroyed when the earthquake struck, and videos posted on The Irrawaddy online news site showed several mosques toppling during the quake, and people fleeing from the areas.

In Mandalay, 270 monks were taking a religious exam at the U Hla Thein monastery when the quake hit, crumpling the building.

Rescue workers at the scene Monday said 70 were able to escape, but 50 have already been found dead and 150 are still unaccounted for.

Little is known about the damage in many places

The true number of people killed and injured across the regions hit is thought to be possibly many times the official figures, but with telecommunication outages and extreme challenges to movement around the country, little is known about the damage in many areas.

“We’re really not clear on the scale of the destruction at this stage,” Lauren Ellery, deputy director of programs in Myanmar for the International Rescue Committee, told The Associated Press.

There is a state of emergency in six regions, and Ellery said her teams on the ground and their local partners are currently assessing where needs are the greatest, while providing emergency medical care, humanitarian supplies and other assistance.

“They were talking about a town near Mandalay where 80% of the buildings were reportedly collapsed, but it wasn’t in the news because telecommunications have been slow,” she said.

“Even in areas where there isn’t so much impact, our partner reported to us on Saturday that there were landslides stopping them reaching one of the villages.”

The earthquake, centered near Mandalay — a city of some 1.5 million, brought down buildings and damaged other infrastructure like the city’s airport.

An artificial intelligence analysis of satellite images of Mandalay by Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab showed 515 buildings with 80%-100% damage and another 1,524 with between 20% and 80% damage. Another 180,004 buildings had between 0% and 20% damage, and the AI4G Lab noted that the assessment was a “preliminary guide and will require on-the-ground verification.”

The World Health Organization said it has reports of three hospitals destroyed and 22 partially damaged in the region.

“The scale of deaths and injuries is not yet fully understood and the numbers are expected to increase,” the U.N. agency said in a report.

“The earthquake’s devastation has overwhelmed healthcare facilities in the affected areas, which are struggling to manage the influx of injured individuals. There is an urgent need for trauma and surgical care, blood transfusion supplies, anesthetics, essential medicines, and mental health support.”

A lack of heavy machinery has slowed search and rescue operations, forcing many to slowly search for survivors by hand in the relentless heat, with daily temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).

Myanmar’s neighbors and allies are among those lending aid

International rescue teams from several countries are now on the scene, including from Russia, China, India and several Southeast Asian countries.

On Sunday, an Indian team jackhammered through slabs of fallen concrete at one site in Mandalay, cutting rebar reinforcement with an angle grinder powered by a portable generator as they sought to reach lower levels.

They could be seen bringing out one covered body and loading it into an ambulance.

The European Union, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and others have announced millions of dollars in aid, either directly or through local partners and international organizations.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said Washington would help, but so far there has been no known assistance to Myanmar.

A small number of American military personnel were sent to assist in Bangkok, where the earthquake shook the Thai capital and killed at least 18 people, many at a construction site where a partially built high-rise collapsed.

Another 33 have been reported injured and 78 missing, primarily at the construction site near the popular Chatuchak market.

Heavy equipment was shut down and authorities urged onlookers to be silent as they used machines to try and detect any signs of life from under the rubble.

Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt told reporters at the scene that signs had been detected Sunday night, though experts could not determine whether it had been machine error.

Nonetheless, he said he still had hope survivors would be found.

“Even if one life is saved, it is worth all the effort,” he said.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, sits on the Sagaing Fault, a major north-south fault that separates the India plate and the Sunda plate.

The earthquake occurred when a 200-kilometer (125-mile) section of the fault ruptured, causing widespread damage along a wide swath of territory down the middle of the country, including Sagaing, Mandalay, Magway and Bago regions and Shan State.

Beyond the earthquake damage, rescue efforts are complicated by the bloody civil war roiling much of the country, including in quake-affected areas. In 2021, the military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking what has since turned into significant armed resistance.

Government forces have lost control of much of Myanmar, and many places are dangerous or impossible for aid groups to reach. More than 3 million people have been displaced by the fighting and nearly 20 million are in need, according to the United Nations.

Ellery, of the International Rescue Committee, noted that the area worst hit by the earthquake was already seriously damaged by flooding last year in which many lost homes, and is also where many of the country’s internally displaced people have sought refuge.

Since the earthquake, many people have been sleeping outside, either because their homes have been destroyed or they are worried that the continuing aftershocks might bring them down.

With the monsoon rains starting in May, finding people shelter was going to be a major challenge going ahead, she said.

“But right now we’re focused on the immediate response,” she said.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



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7 questions for Valvoline Global CEO Jamal Muashsher

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Trump signs orders targeting ‘Anonymous’ author and former top cybersecurity official who crossed him in first term: ‘Like a traitor’

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President Donald Trump intensified his efforts to punish his critics on Wednesday by signing a pair of memoranda directing the Justice Department to investigate two officials from his first administration and stripping them of any security clearances they may have.

Trump’s targeting of Miles Taylor, a former Department of Homeland Security official in Trump’s first term, and Chris Krebs, a former top cybersecurity official, came as the president has sought to use the powers of the presidency to retaliate against his adversaries, including law firms.

Trump also on Wednesday retaliated against another law firm, Susman Godfrey, as he seeks to punish firms that have links to prosecutors who have investigated him or employed attorneys he sees as opponents.

Although Trump has ordered security clearances to be stripped from a number of his opponents, including former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, the president’s order Wednesday directing the Justice Department to broadly investigate the actions of Taylor and Krebs marks an escalation of Trump’s campaign of retribution since he returned to power.

Taylor, who left the Trump administration in 2019, was later revealed to be the author of an anonymous New York Times op-ed in 2018 that was sharply critical of Trump. The person writing the essay described themselves as part of a secret “resistance” to counter Trump’s “misguided impulses,” and its publication touched off a leak investigation in Trump’s first White House.

Taylor later published a book under the pen name “Anonymous” and publicly revealed his identity days before the 2020 election.

Trump said Wednesday that Taylor was “like a traitor” and that his writings about “confidential” meetings were “like spying.”

“I think he’s guilty of treason,” he said.

Taylor responded by saying Trump had proved his point.

“Dissent isn’t unlawful. It certainly isn’t treasonous. America is headed down a dark path,” he wrote on X.

Trump named Krebs the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency but became angered with him after he declared the 2020 election that Trump lost to be secure and the ballot counts to be accurate.

Krebs did not respond to a message seeking comment, but late Wednesday he shared on X a message he originally posted when he left government in 2020: “Honored to serve. We did it right.”

Trump has falsely claimed he was cheated out of reelection in 2020 by widespread fraud, despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary. Recountsreviews and audits in the battleground states where he disputed his loss all affirmed Biden’s victory. Judges, including some he appointed, rejected dozens of his legal challenges.

“It’s bizarre to see a president investigate his own administration and his own appointee,” said David Becker, a former Justice Department lawyer and coauthor of “The Big Truth,” a book about Trump’s 2020 election lies.

Becker noted that Krebs issued his reassurances about the security of the upcoming election for months during 2020 without pushback from the then-president, with Trump only souring on him after the votes were counted.

“The reason he can sit in the White House today and govern from that position is because our election system is secure and has accurately determined who has won the presidency,” Becker said.

Susman Godfrey, the firm Trump targeted in an order Wednesday, represented Dominion Voting Systems in a lawsuit that accused Fox News of falsely claiming that the voting company had rigged the 2020 presidential election. Fox News ultimately agreed to pay nearly $800 million to avert a trial.

The order bars the firm from using government resources or buildings, according to White House staff secretary Will Scharf.

In a statement, Susman Godfrey responded that people who know the firm know it takes seriously its duty to uphold the rule of law. “This principle guides us now,” the firm said. “There is no question that we will fight this unconstitutional order.”

Trump has issued a series of orders meant to punish firms, including by ordering the suspension of lawyers’ security clearances and revoking federal contracts. He’s succeeded in extracting concessions from some who have settled, but others have challenged the orders in court.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



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CEOs are reeling over the tariff chaos of the last few days: ‘My head is spinning right now’

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