Myanmar quake death toll rises above 2,000, military junta says

The death toll from Myanmar’s magnitude 7.7 earthquake rose to 2,056 people, the country’s military junta announced Monday on state-run TV, as rescue workers searched for victims believed trapped under collapsed buildings.

The junta, which took control of the country in a 2021 coup, said on state TV that 170 people were still missing and 3,900 people were injured. The shadow National Unity Government, made up of former civilian leaders, gave a higher death toll of 2,418.

Near the epicenter of Friday’s quake, in Mandalay, the country’s second-biggest city, a 75-year-old grandmother and her two teenage granddaughters were pulled out alive from under their partially collapsed 11-story apartment building, residents told Radio Free Asia.

While holding onto each other in the darkness, the girls, 16 and 13, used their cell phones to signal their location under the Sky Villa condominium. On Sunday, they were happily reunited with their families.

The United Nations Office in Myanmar, meanwhile, issued a statement on Monday asking for unhindered access to earthquake-hit areas to deliver humanitarian aid.

Myanmar, which is mired in a four-year civil war after the military overthrew the democratically-elected government in the coup, is poorly equipped to respond to the disaster.

(AP)

Even before this earthquake, nearly 20 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance, Marcoluigi Corsi, the U.N. resident and acting humanitarian coordinator for Myanmar, said in a statement.

“This latest tragedy compounds an already dire crisis and risks further eroding the resilience of communities already battered by conflict, displacement, and past disasters,” Corsi said.

U.N. agencies and humanitarian partners have allocated an initial US$15 million to support the response and are deploying emergency medical teams, shelter materials and food aid.

“We have a significant presence in Mandalay and surrounding areas, and we are doing everything we can to reach people in need despite serious logistical challenges,” Corsi said.

The U.N. said many survivors were suffering from “fractures, open wounds and crush syndrome – all conditions that pose a high risk of infection."

In a daily humanitarian update, the U.N. recounted a tragedy at a private preschool which was in session during the earthquake in the Mandalay area. The classroom building collapsed, resulting in the deaths of 50 children and two teachers.

In response to the earthquake, rescue teams from Russia, China, Belarus, India, Thailand, Vietnam, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, and Malaysia have been providing assistance. The United States, Australia, the United Kingdom and Bangladesh have sent financial aid and rescue supplies.

The earthquake was centered near Mandalay in the middle of the country and caused severe destruction in Sagaing, Magway, Bago, Naypyidaw, Shan state and eastern Taungoo.

The junta declared a seven-day period of national mourning until April 6 to remember those who lost their lives in the earthquake.

Thai efforts continue

Aftershocks were still being felt in the Burmese cities of Mandalay and Naypyidaw as well as the Thai capital of Bangkok -- 1,000 kilometers from the epicenter -- although no additional damage was reported.

(Myanmar Rescue via RFA Burmese)

In Bangkok, multinational rescuers, including the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, used K-9 dogs and electronic sensors to detect signs of life in the rubble of a 30-story building.

According to the rescue center at the site of the collapsed state audit office near Chatuchak Park, as of 8 a.m. on Monday, 76 people remained missing, 11 were confirmed dead with nine injured. A woman’s body was brought out of the rubble mid-afternoon, bringing the death toll to 12.

The search was continuing beyond the conventional 72-hour window for finding survivors, Bangkok Gov. Chadchart Sittipunt said, saying signs of life had been detected Monday morning.

Thailand’s labor ministry said it would give 1.73 million baht (US$51,000) to families for each of the construction workers – many foreign nationals - who died in the collapse.

Edited by Malcolm Foster.