7.7-Magnitude Earthquake Kills Over 1,700 in Myanmar
More than 1,700 people died when a 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck central Myanmar on Friday. Survivors are still being dug out of the rubble, while estimates suggest the final death toll could exceed 10,000.
Aftershocks and damaged infrastructure are limiting rescue efforts as bridges have collapsed and some roads and rail lines have broken apart. Power, phone and Internet lines have also been damaged, hindering communication networks.
A bad smell is coming from the bodies that remain trapped, and which we are unable to save immediately. We need backhoes, cranes and heavy-duty diggers to demolish the damaged buildings and retrieve the bodies.
—Ko Doe, rescue worker in Sagaing
Myanmar is in a civil war, but the country’s resistance movement announced a partial ceasefire on Saturday in affected areas.
Neighbors: Regions in nearby China and Thailand also felt the quake.
- 18 were killed in Thailand.
- 11 people in Bangkok were killed when a high-rise building that was under construction collapsed; 76 workers are still missing.
Signs: Bible prophecy warns of increasing earthquakes in the lead-up to Jesus Christ’s Second Coming: “And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven” (Luke 21:11).
Our free booklet Why ‘Natural’ Disasters? explains:
It is true that there have always been earthquakes. But for Christ to give this as a sign of the imminence of His return tells you that we should watch for and expect a change from the norm—a notable, measurable increase in the frequency and ferocity of quakes, and perhaps their occurrence in unexpected places. What a mistake it would be, then, to dismiss the fact that this is exactly what we are seeing today!
