Quake Victims Fill Tachilek Hospital Skip to main content

Quake Victims Fill Tachilek Hospital

TACHILEK, Shan State—Following Burma’s worst earthquake in decades, the hospital in this small trading town on the Thai-Burmese border is struggling to cope with an influx of people injured by the deadly magnitude-6.8 temblor that struck on Thursday.

Already filled to capacity, the hospital has been forced to leave many patients out in the open, in sight of passersby. Inside, many other patients, including children and the elderly, can be seen lying on beds or seated on the ground awaiting treatment.

According to local officials, around 700 people have filled the hospital and its compound, many of them suffering from life-threatening injuries.

“Every room is full,” said a woman waiting outside a room where members of her family were being treated. “Only the most serious cases have been admitted. Everyone else has to wait outside. Those who can are taking their relatives to hospitals in other places.”

In Mae Sai, opposite Tachilek on the Thai side of the border, local authorities said that Burmese officials were not allowing Thai and other foreign doctors to enter the country across the Friendship Bridge linking the two towns. Journalists have also been banned, they said.

According to MRTV4, a Burmese state-run television station, 73 people have died in the quake. However, local people told The Irrawaddy that they expected the final death toll to be much higher—perhaps in the hundreds.

Many of the casualties are from Tarlay, a town near the earthquake’s epicenter, where almost every building was damaged and many collapsed. It is believed that many bodies remain buried in the rubble.

Access to Tarlay has been restricted since the quake, with government troops blocking the road into the town to keep out everyone except people returning to search for relatives. Many of the dead and injured in the area are family members of military officials.

Meanwhile, cleaners are busy tidying up the compound of the hospital in Tachilek in anticipation of a visit by junta officials from the capital, Naypyidaw.

As the cleanup continues, fears of further aftershocks remain. In Mae Sai, an aftershock rattled local residents at 5:37 on Saturday morning.

http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21016

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