1,600 killed in Myanmar quake, UN reports severe damage to critical infrastructure

Updated March 29, 2025, 12:30 pm ET.

BANGKOK – The death toll from Myanmar’s massive earthquake soared past 1,600 on Saturday, state media said, as rescuers pulled survivors from rubble and the United Nations warned of severe damage to critical infrastructure and thousands left sleeping in the streets.

In the capital of neighboring Thailand, hundreds of kilometers away from the quake epicenter, national police said the toll from the collapse of a high rise under construction nudged upward, with 13 dead and 118 still missing.

The 7.7 magnitude quake struck just after noon on Friday near Myanmar’s second-largest city, Mandalay. By Saturday evening, state-run MRTV was reporting 1,644 deaths -- up more than 600 in the course of the day. And additional 3,408 were reported injured and 139 missing.

The United Nations in Myanmar on Saturday reported widespread destruction of homes and “severe damage” to critical infrastructure, with flights cancelled until further notice at the international airport at Mandalay. It added that “major bridges, roads, universities, hotels, historical and religious sites and public service buildings in urban and rural areas have been heavily damaged or destroyed.”

“Thousands of people are spending the nights on the streets or open spaces due to the damage and destruction to home or fearing further quakes,” the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.

It said the United Nations and humanitarian partners were mobilizing an emergency response, and the U.N. has allocated an initial US$5 million for life-saving assistance in Myanmar.

The United States and Russia also offered assistance, with Moscow sending 120 rescuers and doctors, according to the TASS news agency. Malaysia said it would send 50 people on Sunday to provide aid to the worst-hit areas. A Chinese rescue team arrived on Saturday, Xinhua news reported. A 50-strong Thai military team was set to go to Myanmar on Sunday, the Bangkok Post reported.

India said it had dispatched its first tranche of 15 metric tons of relief aid in a military C-130 transport plane along with a search and rescue team, and was preparing to deploy a 118-member Indian Army Field Hospital in Mandalay. Another 40 tons of humanitarian aid was heading by ship to Yangon port, it said.

On Friday, Myanmar’s ruling junta declared a state of emergency in Mandalay, Shan state, Sagaing, Bago, Magway and Naypyidaw. Disruptions in power, internet and mobile services complicated efforts in confirming the full measure of the disaster.

The U.N. said communication towers were severely impacted, and electricity and water services were disrupted, including in the region of commercial center, Yangon. The expressway linking Yangon, the capital Naypyidaw and Mandalay has “cracks and surface distortions, forcing highway buses to halt operations.”

Myanmar is one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia. Its ability to respond to the disaster is compounded by a four-year civil war that has engulfed many regions -- including parts of central Myanmar hit hard by the quake.

The conflict was triggered by a 2021 military coup that toppled an elected civilian government, and it has driven more than 3 million people from their homes.

Air strikes continue

On Friday, the junta’s chief spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun appealed for humanitarian aid, but there were reports Saturday that fighting was continuing.

The BBC, citing a rebel People’s Defense Force unit, said the Myanmar military has carried out air strikes in areas declared states of emergency, including in Chang-U township in Sagaing near the epicenter of the quake.

It also quoted David Eubank from the humanitarian resistance group the Free Burma Rangers as saying that “since the earthquake there’s been three air strikes in southern Shan state and Karenni last night. So, they are not stopping.” He was referencing two border regions of eastern Myanmar.

(Stephen Wright/RFA)

But there was some uplifting news on Saturday, as rescuers searched for survivors.

AFP footage showed a 30-year-old woman, Phyu Lay Khaing, being pulled from a collapsed apartment building by rescue workers in Mandalay, 30 hours after the quake struck. She was stretchered out, to rounds of applause from onlookers. She hugged her husband Ye Aung and was then whisked away in an ambulance.

‘See how many survivors we can find’

In Bangkok on Saturday, 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from the quake’s epicenter, soldiers and government disaster response workers continued to hunt for construction workers trapped when a 33-story government building collapsed.

Backhoes picked at the giant mound of grey building debris next to the famous Chatuchak market as police shooed away reporters and bystanders from the entrance to the site.

“We Thais are working our hardest to try to rescue them. Today, we are waiting for good news,” said Suchatvee Suwansawat, part of a team of engineers involved in the rescue operation. “We will see how many survivors we can find, but it is very hard. This is something we have never faced before.”

Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra ordered an investigation into the collapse, with the results due next week.

“Essential services as well as businesses and tourist providers are operating as normal,” the government said Saturday as most rail lines in the capital reopened and airports across Thailand resumed regular operations after safety checks.

Small tremors were still taking place Saturday according to Thailand’s meteorological department, which recorded 77 aftershocks as of 6 a.m., although no significant damage was reported.

The earthquake was felt in China’s Yunnan and Sichuan provinces and caused damage and injuries in the city of Ruili on the border with Myanmar, according to Chinese media reports.

The shaking in Mangshi, a Chinese city about 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of Ruili, was so strong that people couldn’t stand, one resident told The Paper, an online media outlet.

Updated with death toll rising in Myanmar and Thailand, UN providing details of the impact of the quake, India and Thailand sending relief.

Apichart Sopapong, Phetsiam Promngoy and Pimuk Rakkanam contributed to this story. Edited by Taejun Kang, Stephen Wright and Mat Pennington.