Myanmar, Thailand earthquake death toll tops 1,600 as search for survivors intensifies
Over 3,400 people have been injured, with deaths and injuries expected to rise significantly amid devastating and widespread damage
The death toll from the 7.7-magnitude earthquake that rocked Myanmar and Thailand exceeded 1,600 on Saturday, as rescuers in worst-affected Mandalay clawed chunks of debris with their bare hands to free the city’s trapped victims while ruptured roads, collapsed bridges and blackouts hampered aid efforts across a vast area of devastation.
In neighbouring Thailand, drones, sniffer dogs and cameras were sent into a mountain of debris from a 33-storey collapsed Bangkok building which has buried up to 100 construction workers, many of them also believed to be from Myanmar.
Ten people had been killed across the Thai capital – most at the construction site – with local media reporting signs of life from under the rubble, as the crucial first 24-hour window for rescue passed.
Bangkok is 1,000km (620 miles) from the epicentre of Friday’s quake, the most powerful to hit either Myanmar or Thailand in living memory, with tremors also shaking buildings in Laos, China’s Yunnan province and as far south as Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.
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Earthquake death toll tops 1,000 as new images emerge from Myanmar, Thailand and China
The death toll has risen to 1,644, Myanmar’s ruling junta said on Saturday, with 3,408 people injured.
A statement from the junta’s information team said that at least 139 people were still missing after Friday’s shallow 7.7-magnitude quake.