Myanmar quake toll passes 1,000 as rescuers dig for survivors

The death toll from a massive earthquake that struck Myanmar and Thailand surpassed 1,000 on Saturday, as rescuers scrambled to find survivors buried under collapsed buildings. The 7.7-magnitude quake hit northwest of the city of Sagaing in central Myanmar in the early afternoon, followed minutes later by a 6.7-magnitude aftershock.

The quake destroyed buildings, downed bridges, and buckled roads across large areas of Myanmar, with severe damage reported in Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city, home to more than 1.7 million people. At least 1,002 people were killed and nearly 2,400 injured in Myanmar, the ruling junta said in a statement. Around 10 more deaths were confirmed in Bangkok.

With communications badly disrupted, the true scale of the disaster is only beginning to emerge from the isolated military-ruled state, and the toll is expected to rise significantly. It was the strongest earthquake to hit Myanmar in decades, geologists said, and the tremors were powerful enough to damage buildings across Bangkok, hundreds of kilometers from the epicenter.

In Mandalay, AFP journalists saw a centuries-old Buddhist pagoda reduced to rubble. “It started shaking, then it started getting serious,” said a soldier at a checkpoint outside the pagoda. “The monastery also collapsed. One monk died. Some people were injured, we pulled out some people and took them to the hospital.” The head of the main Buddha statue in the monastery fell off and was placed at its feet.

“Everyone at the monastery dares not sleep inside, as we heard there could be another earthquake. I have never felt anything like this in my life,” said the soldier. At Mandalay Airport, guards turned away journalists. “It has been closed since yesterday,” one said. “The ceiling collapsed, but no one was hurt.” Damage to the airport is expected to complicate relief efforts in a country where rescue services and the healthcare system have been devastated by four years of civil war following a military coup in 2021.

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing made an exceptionally rare appeal for international aid on Friday, highlighting the severity of the disaster. Previous military governments have rejected foreign assistance even after major natural disasters. The country declared a state of emergency across the six worst-affected regions. At one major hospital in Naypyidaw, medics were forced to treat the wounded in the open air on Friday.

Offers of foreign assistance have begun arriving, with President Donald Trump pledging US help on Friday. “It’s a real bad one, and we will be helping. We’ve already spoken with the country,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. An initial flight from India carrying hygiene kits, blankets, food parcels, and other essentials landed in the commercial capital, Yangon, on Saturday. China also sent an 82-person team of rescuers to Myanmar.

Aid agencies have warned that Myanmar is completely unprepared to handle a disaster of this scale. Even before the quake, some 3.5 million people had been displaced by the ongoing civil war, many already at risk of hunger.

Across the border in Bangkok, rescuers worked through the night searching for survivors after a 30-story skyscraper under construction collapsed, reduced in seconds to a heap of rubble and twisted metal by the force of the shaking. Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt told AFP that around 10 people had been confirmed dead across the city, most in the skyscraper collapse.

Up to 100 workers remain unaccounted for at the building site, which is near the Chatuchak weekend market, a popular tourist destination. “We are doing our best with the resources we have because every life matters,” Chadchart told reporters at the scene. Thermal imaging drones were deployed to locate survivors, and authorities believe they have detected at least 15 people in the rubble.

Bangkok city authorities announced they would deploy over 100 engineers to inspect buildings for safety after receiving more than 2,000 reports of damage. Up to 400 people were forced to sleep in the open air in city parks because their homes were not safe to return to, Chadchart said.

While widespread destruction was avoided in Bangkok, dramatic images emerged of rooftop swimming pools sloshing water down the sides of high-rise apartment buildings and hotels. Some hospitals were evacuated, and one woman gave birth outside after being moved from a hospital building. A surgeon continued operating on a patient after evacuating, completing the procedure outside, a spokesman told AFP.