Myanmar Earthquake: Death Toll Over 1000 As Rescue Operations Continue In Bangkok

• Junta makes rare call for aid as 7.7-magnitude quake injures hundreds

The death toll in Myanmar has reached more than 1,000, as rescuers dig through the rubble of collapsed buildings in a desperate search for survivors.

In a statement on Saturday, the ruling Military Junta said 1,002 people had been confirmed dead and 2,376 injured, with most of the dead in Mandalay.

Also, the statement suggested the numbers could still rise, saying “detailed figures are still being collected” following the powerful earthquake that struck Myanmar on Friday.

The 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit central Myanmar at 12.50pm local time on Friday at a depth of 10km (6.2 miles). Its epicentre was about 11 miles (17.2km) from Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city.

Min Aung Hlaing, the Chief of Myanmar’s junta, said he expected the death toll to rise and urged “any country, any organisation” to help with relief efforts – a rare request from the isolated military government.

The Junta said blood was in high demand in the worst-affected areas as concerns grew about how rescuers would even reach some parts of a country already enduring a widespread humanitarian crisis.

It was the biggest quake to hit Myanmar in over a century, according to US geologists, and the tremors were powerful enough to severely damage buildings across Bangkok, hundreds of kilometres (miles) away from the epicentre.

Witnesses and local media said people had been killed in the city of Mandalay and in the towns Toungoo and Aungban while hundreds of casualties were taken to a hospital in the capital, Naypyidaw, where injured people were being treated outside because of damage to the building.

A rescue worker from Amarapura, an ancient city and now a township of Mandalay, said the bodies of 30 people had been recovered from collapsed multistorey apartment blocks.

“I have never experienced anything like this before – our town looks like a collapsed city,” he said, estimating that about a fifth of the buildings had been destroyed.

“We received calls for help from people from the inside, but we cannot help because we do not have enough manpower and machines to remove the debris, but we will not stop working.”

The scale of the damage in Myanmar is yet to become clear, though social media footage emerging from central regions has shown many buildings collapsed or damaged.

In neighbouring Thailand, which also felt tremors, Bangkok city authorities said so far 10 people had been found dead, 26 injured and about 100 still missing, most from a construction site near the capital’s popular Chatuchak market, where a high-rise building under construction collapsed in Bangkok.

Bangkok City authorities said they will deploy more than 100 engineers to inspect buildings for safety after receiving over 2,000 reports of damage.

Thai authorities said eight of the 10 reported deaths happened after the high-rise building crashed to the ground in the capital, adding that rescuers are searching for another 81 people trapped in the rubble with damage also reported in China.

Bangkok authorities declared the city a disaster area, saying they needed to assess and monitor damaged areas and help people who may still be at risk.

According to reports, people ran out on to the streets in panic, many of them hotel guests in bathrobes and swimming costumes, as water cascaded down from an elevated pool at one luxury hotel.

In the northern tourist destination of Chiang Mai, where the power briefly went out, stunned residents also hurried outside, unsure how to respond.

Seventy-Six years old Sai, who was working at a minimart in Chiang Mai when the shop started to shake, told Agence France-Presse, “I quickly rushed out of the shop along with other customers”, adding; “This is the strongest tremor I’ve experienced in my life”.

Regional Director of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Mohamed Riyas, said the earthquake’s impact was likely to be severe and could displace thousands of people, leaving them in need of food, shelter and medical aid.

“We fear it may be weeks before we understand the full extent of destruction caused by this earthquake, as communication network lines are down and transport is disrupted,” he added.

“The damage to infrastructure and homes, loss of life, and injuries sustained by communities affected should not be underestimated.”

This is as the United Nations (UN) Secretary General, António Guterres, offered his condolences and said regional networks were mobilising to help those in need.

Myanmar’s junta, which has lost swathes of territory to armed groups, declared a state of emergency across the six worst-affected regions.

As well as the call for international aid, state TV made a domestic appeal for medical supplies and blood donations because of what it said were “so many” injuries in three urban centres.

The quake will further stretch Myanmar’s ruling military. The anti-junta militias, known as the people’s defence forces, said their troops would provide humanitarian help.

Footage reportedly taken inside Mandalay airport showed people racing to safety through dusty hallways, the floor scattered with ceiling panels.

The videos, published by local media, show panicked people crouching on the floor outside the airport for safety.