Myanmar quake death toll passes 1,600 as international aid starts to arrive

Foreign rescue teams began flying into Myanmar on Saturday to aid the search for survivors from an earthquake that killed more than 1,600 people in the Southeast Asian nation crippling critical infrastructure amid a grinding civil war.

The death toll in Myanmar climbed to 1,644, the military government said on Saturday, according to BBC Burmese news service.

In neighbouring Thailand, where the quake rattled buildings and brought down a skyscraper under construction in the capital Bangkok, at least nine people were killed.

The US Geological Service's predictive modelling estimated the death toll could exceed 10,000 in Myanmar and that losses could exceed the country's annual economic output.

The quake damaged roads, bridges and buildings in Myanmar, according to the junta, whose top general made a rare call for international assistance on Friday.

"Search and rescue operations are currently being carried out in the affected areas," the junta said in a statement on state media on Saturday.

A Chinese rescue team arrived in Myanmar's commercial capital of Yangon, hundreds of kilometres from the hard-hit cities on Mandalay and Naypyitaw, the country's purpose-built capital, where parts of a 1,000-bed hospital were damaged.

'DON'T THINK THERE'S ANY HOPE'

Russia, India, Malaysia and Singapore were sending planeloads of relief supplies and personnel to Myanmar, which has been ravaged by a civil war after a 2021 military coup ousted an elected civilian government.

"We will continue to monitor the developments and more aid will follow," said Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. South Korea said it would provide an initial $2 million in humanitarian aid to Myanmar through international organisations.

The United States, which has a testy relationship with the Myanmar military and has sanctioned its officials, including junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, has said it would provide some assistance.

The quake, which hit around lunchtime on Friday, impacted wide swathes of the country, from the central plains around Mandalay to the hills of Shan, parts of which are not completely under the junta's control.

In Mandalay, Myanmar's second-biggest city, residents and rescue workers scrambled to pull people out from under collapsed buildings, struggling with limited heavy machinery available to remove debris.

After he was dragged out from under a wall by other residents, Htet Min Oo, 25, said he tried to clear the rubble of a crumpled building himself to rescue his grandmother and two uncles - but eventually gave up. "I don't know if they are still alive under the debris," he told Reuters, breaking into tears. "After so long, I don’t think there's any hope."

SEARCHING BANGKOK TOWER RUBBLE

Susan Hough, a scientist in the USGS's Earthquake Hazards Programme, told Reuters it was difficult to predict an earthquake's death toll, for various reasons including timing.When a quake strikes during the daytime, as it did in Myanmar, "people are awake, they have their wits about them, they are better able to respond," she said.

In Bangkok, 1,000 km from the epicentre, a rescue mission stepped up its efforts on Saturday to find construction workers trapped under the rubble of the collapsed 33-storey tower.

Authorities used excavators, drones and search-and-rescue dogs to try to extricate the 30 people stuck, including at least 15 still showing signs of life. "We will do everything, we will not give up on saving lives, we will use all resources," Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said at the site.

After the city ground to a halt on Friday, hundreds spent the night in parks, but the situation was improving on Saturday, he said.

Waanpetch Panta sat at the site of the collapsed building with her husband, watching the rescue operations and waiting for news of their 18-year-old daughter, who is among the missing. "I prayed that my daughter was among those taken to the hospital already," she said, "All I can do is sit and wait like this."