Over 44% of earthquake-damaged buildings demolished in Mandalay municipality
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Htet Nadi/Thet Paing (NP News)- June 5
A source close to the Mandalay City Development Committee (MCDC) said that about 44 percent of the buildings that were to be demolished due to the earthquake within its boundaries have been demolished.
He said that 43.54 percent of the buildings in the municipal areas of Aung Myay Thar Zan Township, 36.58 percent in Chan Aye Thar Zan Township, 47.86 percent in Maha Aung Myay Township, 24.57 percent in Chan Myat Thar Si Township, 21.82 percent in Pyi Gyi Ta Gun Township, and 93.75 percent in Amarapura Township have been demolished.
Therefore, it is known that the MCDC has completed the demolition of more than 44 percent of the buildings within the municipal boundaries and is currently carrying out demolition according to set guidelines.
The above-mentioned source stated, “Since the tilted buildings can only be demolished using machinery, numbers have been assigned by township, priorities have been set, and teams have been organized to carry out the demolition accordingly.”
It is also reported that there is a lack of machinery to demolish buildings.
He said, "It’s the long-arm machinery. For buildings that are a bit taller, we have to use those long-arm machines. But there are only three of them in the entire town. That’s a challenge. There’s no issue with fuel or other supplies, and the public is also cooperating. The national and regional governments are providing support as well. But the main difficulty is that there are only three long-arm machines available. These are especially effective for buildings over four stories high. So we’re rotating them around to get the work done."
Currently, it is the beginning of the rainy season and small aftershocks are still occurring, so some earthquake-affected buildings in Mandalay are reportedly collapsing.
The Mandalay regional government has announced that construction work on buildings under construction in Mandalay six townships needs to be temporarily suspended due to the strong earthquake, and that inspections will be carried out by inspection teams officially formed by the Mandalay regional government.
According to the National Disaster Management Committee, the Mandalay earthquake caused damage to 65,096 residential buildings, 2,514 schools, 4,317 monasteries and nunneries, 6,027 pagodas, 350 hospitals and clinics, 38 railways, 269 roads, 203 highway road sections, 586 dams, and 170 bridges, according to the data collected from March 28 to May 11.