WNAM MONITORING: Around 700 Muslims were reportedly killed in the devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck Myanmar on Friday, according to local Muslim communities.
The earthquake occurred during Friday prayers in Ramazan, when many Burmese Muslims — not Rohingya — were gathered in mosques.
The Irrawaddy, a news website run by Burmese exiles in Thailand, reported Monday that 60 mosques in the Mandalay and Sagaing regions — the areas most affected by the earthquake — were destroyed, citing the Spring Revolution Myanmar Muslim Network.
Most of these mosques were reportedly built in the 19th century.
Mosques in Mandalay, Sagaing, Naypyitaw, Pyinmana, Pyawbwe, Yamethin, Thazi, Meiktila, Kyaukse and Paleik townships also suffered significant damage.
“We estimate high casualties because the earthquake struck during Friday prayers and it is Ramadan this month. We still don’t have exact figures, but we know hundreds were killed,” said Muslim Ko Shaki, as quoted by the media outlet.
At least 18 mosques in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, were damaged, many of them 19th-century buildings that had never been repaired, Ko Shaki said.
“We were not allowed to repair and maintain mosques under successive governments,” he said.
Ko Shaki also mentioned that the military-backed ultranationalist group, the Association for the Protection of Race and Religion (Ma Ba Tha), played a significant role in fostering anti-mosque sentiments in the country.
In 2017, the US State Department issued a warning about the worsening condition of historic mosques, citing the denial of routine maintenance.
Despite including monasteries in early reports, the junta did not list mosques among the damaged properties.
It has also been reported that junta rescue teams did not conduct search and rescue efforts at the mosques.
