MANDALAY: The death toll from a huge earthquake that hit Myanmar and Thailand passed 1,000 on Saturday, as rescuers dug through the rubble of collapsed buildings in a desperate search for survivors.
The shallow 7.7-magnitude quake struck 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 swathes of Myanmar, with massive destruction seen in Mandalay, the country’s second biggest city and 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 have been confirmed in Bangkok.
But with communications badly disrupted, the true scale of the disaster is only starting to emerge from the isolated military-ruled state, and the toll is expected to rise significantly.
It was the biggest quake to hit Myanmar in decades, according to geologists, and the tremors were powerful enough to severely damage buildings across Bangkok, hundreds of kilometres (miles) away from the epicentre.
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In Mandalay, AFP journalists saw a centuries-old Buddhist pagoda that had been reduced to rubble by the quake.
“It started shaking, then it started getting serious,” said a soldier at a checkpoint on the road 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 on the platform 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.
Guards at Mandalay Airport turned away journalists.
“It has been closed since yesterday,” said one. “The ceiling collapsed but no-one was hurt.”
Damage to the airport would complicate relief efforts in a country whose rescue services and healthcare system have already been ravaged by four years of civil war sparked by a military coup in 2021.
Rare junta plea for help
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing issued an exceptionally rare appeal for international aid on Friday, indicating the severity of the calamity. Previous military governments have shunned foreign assistance even after major natural disasters.
The country declared a state of emergency across the six worst-affected regions after the quake, and at one major hospital in the capital, Naypyidaw, medics were forced to treat the wounded in the open air on Friday.
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Offers of foreign assistance began coming in, with President Donald Trump on Friday pledging US help.
“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 said it sent an 82-person team of rescuers to Myanmar.
Aid agencies have warned that Myanmar is totally unprepared to deal with a disaster of this magnitude. Some 3.5 million people were displaced by the raging civil war, many at risk of hunger, even before the quake struck.
Bangkok building collapse
Across the border in Bangkok, rescuers worked through the night searching for survivors trapped when a 30-storey skyscraper under construction collapsed, reduced in seconds to a pile of rubble and twisted metal by the force of the shaking.
Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt told AFP that around 10 people had been confirmed killed across the city, most in the skyscraper collapse.
But up to 100 workers were still unaccounted for at the building, close to the Chatuchak weekend market that is a magnet for tourists.
“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 seek signs of life in the rubble, and authorities believe they have seen indications from at least 15 people.
Bangkok city authorities said they will deploy more than 100 engineers to inspect buildings for safety after receiving over 2,000 reports of damage.
Up to 400 people were forced to spend the night in the open air in city parks as their homes were not safe to return to, Chadchart said.
While there was no widespread destruction in Bangkok, the shaking brought some dramatic images of rooftop swimming pools sloshing their contents down the side of many of the city’s towering apartment blocks and hotels.
Even hospitals were evacuated, with one woman delivering her baby outdoors after being moved from a hospital building. A surgeon also continued to operate on a patient after evacuating, completing the operation outside, a spokesman told AFP.
