The death toll from a huge earthquake that hit Myanmar and Thailand reached 1,644 on Saturday, according to a statement from the ruling junta.
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.
The death toll from the quake has risen to 1,644, the ruling junta said in a statement from their information team, with 3,408 people injured. The statement added that at least 139 people are still missing after Friday’s quake.
Around 10 more deaths have been confirmed in Bangkok.
But with communications badly disrupted, the true scale of the disaster has yet 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 over a century, according to US geologists, and the tremors were powerful enough to severely damage buildings across Bangkok, hundreds of kilometres away from the epicentre.
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.
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing issued an exceptionally rare appeal for international aid on Friday, indicating the severity of the calamity. Previous military regimes 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.
One official described it as a “mass casualty area”.
“I haven’t seen [something] like this before. We are trying to handle the situation. I’m so exhausted now,” a doctor told AFP.
Mandalay, a city of more than 1.7 million people, appeared to have been badly hit. AFP photos showed dozens of buildings reduced to rubble.
A resident reached by phone told AFP that a hospital and a hotel had been destroyed, and said the city was badly lacking in rescue personnel.
Offers of foreign assistance began coming in, with President Donald Trump on Friday pledging US help.
“It’s terrible,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office about the quake when asked if he would respond to the appeal by Myanmar’s military rulers.
“It’s a real bad one, and we will be helping. We’ve already spoken with the country.”
Pakistan announced that the embassies in Yangon and Bangkok would be available to provide assistance to Pakistanis in the event of emergencies.
An initial flight from India carrying hygiene kits, blankets, food parcels and other essentials landed in the commercial capital Yangon on Saturday.
“We will continue to monitor the developments and more aid will follow,” said Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
China said it sent an 82-person team of rescuers to Myanmar.
Russia, Malaysia and Singapore were also 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.
South Korea said it would provide an initial $2 million in humanitarian aid to Myanmar through international organisations.
Aid agencies have warned that Myanmar is totally unprepared to deal with a disaster of this magnitude. Some 3.5m people were displaced by the raging civil war, many at risk of hunger, even before the quake struck.