The death toll in Myanmar from Friday’s magnitude 7.7 earthquake has risen to 1,644, the AFP news agency quoting the ruling military junta has said.
The quake rocked central Myanmar’s city of Mandalay around midday local time, causing extensive damage across a wide swath of one of the world’s poorest countries.
Authorities say 2,376 have been injured, and 30 others are missing.
The full extent of the death, injury and destruction was not immediately clear – particularly in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war, and where information is tightly controlled.
“The death toll and injuries are expected to rise,” the head of Myanmar’s military government, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said as he announced on television the latest death toll.
At least 10 lives were also lost in the Thai capital, Bangkok – some 1,330 km southeast of the epicentre – after a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Authorities also announced that over a dozen people were injured, to varying degrees, and more than 100 people were missing from three construction sites.
The 7.7 magnitude quake struck at midday near Myanmar’s second largest city of Mandalay. Aftershocks followed, more than 50, according to national geological agencies, with the strongest measuring in at 6.4 magnitude.
Myanmar is in an active earthquake belt, though many of the temblors usually happen in sparsely populated areas, not cities like those affected Friday.
The US Geological Survey – an American government science agency – estimated that the death toll in Myanmar’s quakes could top 10,000.
In Mandalay, the earthquake reportedly brought down multiple buildings, including one of the city’s largest monasteries. Photos from the capital city of Naypyidaw showed rescue crews pulling victims from the rubble of multiple buildings used to house civil servants.
International rescue efforts underway
Myanmar's government said blood was in high demand in the hardest-hit areas. In a country where prior governments sometimes have been slow to accept foreign aid, Min Aung Hlaing said Myanmar was ready to accept assistance.
China and Russia were among the first countries to provide humanitarian assistance. China said it sent more than 136 rescue personnel and experts, along with medical supplies and generators, while Russia flew in 120 rescuers with supplies, according to its Emergencies Ministry.
Neighbouring India also sent a search and rescue team, while Malaysia said it 50 people would be sent to help on Sunday.
The United Nations allocated $5 million (€4.62 million) to start relief efforts. US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Washington was going to help with the response, but some experts were concerned about this effort given his administration’s deep cuts in foreign assistance.
The effects of his administration’s deep cuts in foreign assistance through the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the State Department will likely be tested in any response to the first big natural disaster of his second term.
But amid images of buckled and cracked roads and reports of a collapsed bridge and a burst dam, there were concerns about how rescuers would even reach some areas in a country already enduring a humanitarian crisis.
