25.03.29.Today News : Myanmar's earthquake death toll passes 1,000 / Structure collapses during NC-LG game, injuring 3 spectators

1. Myanmar's earthquake death toll passes 1,000

The death toll from a strong earthquake in Myanmar has surpassed 1,000 on the 29th (local time), the second day of the quake.

Myanmar's military junta released a statement saying that 1002 people have been confirmed dead and 2,376 injured in connection with the earthquake.

The death toll has nearly quadrupled in a single day from the 144 confirmed by Myanmar's junta chief, Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing, the previous day.

Earlier in the day, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck at 12:50pm in central Myanmar, 33 kilometres southwest of the country's second city of Mandalay, causing widespread destruction, including the collapse of many buildings and the burying of people.

Myanmar's infrastructure and social systems, already shattered by the country's long-running civil war, have been devastated by the quake, and aftershocks have followed 12 times so far, raising fears of a rapidly escalating toll.

‘It could take weeks to determine the full extent of the damage caused by the earthquake due to the loss of communications and disruption of transport,’ Mohamed Riyas, head of the Myanmar office of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), told the Associated Press.

In a report on the quake, the US Geological Survey (USGS) estimated that there is a 71% chance that the death toll will rise to more than 10,000, with a 36% chance that it will be more than 100,000 and a 35% chance that it will be between 10,000 and 100,000.

Economic losses could also exceed Myanmar's gross domestic product (GDP), with a 33 per cent chance of more than $100 billion (about K147 trillion) and a 35 per cent chance of between $10 billion and $100 billion (K14 trillion and K147 trillion).

Meanwhile, concrete reports of human casualties continue to emerge.

Thirty bodies were recovered from a collapsed apartment building in Mandalay, an area near the epicentre that was largely destroyed by the quake, a local rescue worker said.

‘Our town looks like a collapsed city,’ the rescuer said, estimating that about a fifth of the buildings in the area were destroyed.

The collapse of the Paya Taung pagoda also buried dozens of monks, and other major buildings, including the Ma Soye Yein pagoda, collapsed.

‘Most of the buildings have collapsed,’ another rescue worker in Mandalay told the BBC, adding that “people were running in the streets, screaming and wailing”.

He said the Mandalay General Hospital was almost full and that the hospital building was also crushed.

Rescuers in villages around Mandalay told the BBC that they needed machinery to rescue people trapped in the rubble of collapsed buildings but were unable to get it.

‘We are digging through the rubble with our bare hands and pulling people out,’ he said. ‘People are crying out, ‘Help, help, help,’ but it's not enough to recover the bodies and get people out from under the rubble. It really feels hopeless,’ he said.

In the capital Naypyidaw, more than 200 kilometres south of Mandalay, rescuers also recovered at least 60 bodies from temples and other buildings and said many more were buried, one rescuer said.

Meanwhile, in Bangkok, Thailand, more than 1,000 kilometres from the quake's epicentre, the collapse of a 33-storey building under construction killed six people, injured 22 others and left 101 people missing, Bangkok city authorities said.

Authorities told AP that the death toll was lowered after rescuers revived some critically injured people at hospitals who had been mistaken for dead after announcing 10 deaths earlier in the day.

One-line summary : The death toll from a 7.7-magnitude earthquake in Myanmar has surpassed 1,000, with aftershocks and infrastructure collapse feared to further increase the damage.

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2. Structure collapses during NC-LG game, injuring 3 spectators

A baseball stadium structure collapsed, injuring spectators. The game scheduled for the 30th at NC Park in Changwon has been cancelled.

A stadium structure collapsed during a KBO League baseball game, injuring spectators.

A KBO regular season game between the NC Dinos and LG Twins at Changwon NC Park on the 29th. At around 5.20pm, while the game was still in progress, a structure installed on the concession stand wall on the third base side of NC Park fell, injuring three spectators. ‘Two spectators were injured and transported to a nearby hospital by ambulance, and one was transported individually,’ said an NC team official. ’The circumstances of the accident and the condition of the victims are being investigated. We will do everything we can and the area where the incident occurred is under control.’

The incident is believed to have occurred when a wall-mounted structure at the top of the concourse suddenly collapsed, injuring spectators passing by the concession stand. Two of the three spectators were injured, and an official said, ‘One person was not directly injured, but was very shaken up.’

One spectator suffered a head injury. ‘The spectator with the head injury is currently undergoing surgery at a local hospital. The other one is currently undergoing treatment for a broken collarbone,’ the official said, adding, ’There is currently a club staff member at the hospital, and the club will spare no effort to provide all support and measures for their treatment.’

At around 8:45 p.m. on the same day, NC issued a press release and officially announced, ‘The game against the LG Twins scheduled for March 30 at Changwon NC Park has been cancelled to inspect the facilities at Changwon NC Park.’ ‘Depending on how long the facility safety inspection takes, the home game will be announced at a later date,’ the club said.

Soon after, the KBO also announced, ‘The game between NC and LG scheduled for 30 March in Changwon has been postponed. The decision was made in consultation with NC in order to conduct facility safety inspections following a falling structure accident that injured three spectators at the Changwon game on 29 March.’

NC was scheduled to play the final day of a three-game series against LG at home in Changwon on the 30th, then take a day off before returning to NC Park on the 1st of April for a three-game series against SSG Landers. The game on the 30th has been cancelled, and it remains to be seen if the game against SSG, which starts on the 1st of April, will be played normally.

Meanwhile, NC announced that not only NC Park but also Masan Baseball Stadium, which is located next door, will be inspected, saying, ‘Futures League games will be played without spectators. We will announce the schedule for spectator admission at a later date depending on how long the facility safety inspection will take.’

One-line summary : A stadium structure collapsed at NC Park in Changwon, injuring three spectators, and the match between NC and LG scheduled for the 30th has been cancelled for safety inspections.