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Sylvie Zhuang

Victoria Bela

China has promised to provide 100 million yuan (US$13.8 million) in emergency aid to Myanmar following the devastating earthquake there, while President Xi Jinping spoke to the head of the ruling junta on Saturday to offer his condolences.
Beijing has also sent two rescue teams and will supply tents, blankets, first aid kits, food and drinking water, state news agency Xinhua reported.
Meanwhile, the death toll continued to rise. Friday’s 7.7-magnitude quake was the most powerful to hit Myanmar in decades and has killed at least 1,000 people and injured 2,400, according to local authorities.
The toll is expected to rise significantly and with communications badly disrupted in the isolated state, the true picture is still unknown.
The country’s airports also reportedly shut down while electricity, phone and internet services remained down for most of the capital city Naypyidaw on Saturday.
China’s foreign ministry said on Saturday that it had received no reports so far of any Chinese nationals being among the dead in Myanmar.
A 82-strong Chinese rescue team, made up of personnel from the Beijing fire brigade, National Earthquake Response Support Service and Emergency General Hospital network, arrived in Myanmar’s largest city Yangon on Saturday and was travelling to the affected areas, according to Xinhua.
The Chinese embassy added that a regional rescue team from Yunnan, a southwestern province bordering Myanmar, had already arrived in the country.
A team of 16 volunteers from the Blue Sky Rescue Team, a civil relief squad, had also entered the country, crossing from the Yunnan border town of Ruili on Saturday morning, according to China’s state broadcaster CCTV.
Xinhua said the first batch of aid kits would start to be delivered on Monday and China would offer additional help if Myanmar authorities requested it.
Chinese customs has also made special arrangements to allow relief material to cross the border round the clock.
On Saturday, Xi made a call to junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing to express his condolences, while Premier Li Qiang also offered his.


“China and Myanmar are a community with a shared future that shares weal and woe, and the two peoples have a deep fraternal friendship,” Xi said, according to Xinhua.
“China is willing to provide necessary assistance to Myanmar and support the people in the disaster-stricken areas to overcome the disaster and rebuild their homes as soon as possible.”
Xi’s call is the latest show of support for the junta, which seized power in a 2021 coup and has since been embroiled in a civil war with various rebel groups around the country.
China has also been speaking to rebel groups in the north in an effort to contain the fighting, which is causing instability on its borders and threatens its trade and infrastructure plans under the Belt and Road Initiative.
Xi and Min Aung Hlaing last met when the Chinese leader visited Myanmar in 2020, when the military was ruling alongside the democratic government of Aung San Suu Kyi, which it overthrew a year later.
The junta leader has issued a plea for international help, saying: “I would like to invite any country, any organisation or anyone in Myanmar to come and help. Thank you.”
He asked for massive relief efforts in the wake of the disaster and said he had “opened all ways for foreign aid”.
Russia’s emergencies ministry sent two planes carrying 120 rescuers and supplies, according to a report from the official Tass news agency.
On Friday US President Donald Trump said: “We are going to be helping … it’s terrible what has happened.”
He said his administration had spoken to authorities in Myanmar, although it was unclear if the US rescue efforts would be undercut by his cost-cutting campaign targeting federal agencies, including the US Agency for International Development or USAID – Washington’s leading body for global humanitarian aid programmes.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a 10-member bloc that includes Myanmar, said that it recognised the urgent need for humanitarian assistance. “Asean stands ready to support relief and recovery efforts,” the group said in a statement.
Meanwhile, South Korea said it would provide an initial US$2 million in humanitarian aid through international organisations.


Hong Kong will also deploy a search and rescue team, according to Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, who also offered his condolences to the victims.
The quake also caused extensive damage in neighbouring Thailand, including the collapse of a high-rise building that was under construction in the capital Bangkok.
At least 10 people were killed and dozens remain missing in Thailand, many believed to be trapped in the debris of the collapsed building.
Thai media reported that signs of life were found in the rubble, although rescuers are racing against time in the “golden 72 hours” for rescue efforts.
The Bangkok Fire and Rescue Department said the 30-storey building under construction in Chatuchak district, which was to house the State Audit Office, had collapsed because of an unstable structure, according to local media outlet The Nation.


The 2.1 billion baht (US$62.2 million) project was being built by ITD-CREC, a Thai-Chinese-Italian joint venture, whose partners include the state-owned China Railway No 10 Engineering Group.
There were construction workers from Myanmar working at the site, although it has yet to be confirmed whether any Chinese workers were also there when the high-rise collapsed.
The Chinese embassy in Bangkok did not respond when contacted for information.
The earthquake was also felt 300km (186 miles) away in Yunnan, where two people in Ruili were injured, and more than 840 houses were damaged, affecting over 2,800 residents, according to Xinhua.


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Members of the Chinese rescue team pictured at Yangon airport. Photo: Xinhua

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Residents inspect the collapsed Maha Myat Muni Pagoda in the city of Mandalay, Myanmar, following a devastating earthquake. Photo: EPA-EFE

A collapsed building in the Myanmar city of Mandalay. Photo: AFP

Ye Aung speaks to his wife Phyu Lay Khaing after she was rescued from the collapsed Sky Villa Condominium apartment building in Mandalay on Saturday. Photo: AFP

A rescuer attempts to extract a mother and her child from a collapsed building in Myanmar’s capital city Naypyidaw. Photo: AFP

People wait as rescuers attempt to free residents – thought to be several dozen – trapped under a destroyed building in the Myanmar city of Mandalay on Saturday, the day after a massive earthquake. Photo: AFP

A view of Myanmar’s collapsed Ava Bridge on Saturday following Friday’s quake. Photo: via EPA-EFE

Family members wait for an update on their loved ones who were working at a quake-hit building in Bangkok. Photo: Reuters

Heavy construction equipment is used by rescue teams trying to find people trapped in rubble at the site of an under-construction building collapse in Bangkok on Saturday. Photo: AFP

Why did the earthquake in Myanmar, Thailand cause so much damage? What science says

Rescue workers at the site of a building that collapsed in Bangkok, following Friday’s strong earthquake, on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

A damaged road in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, following a 7.7-magnitude earthquake on Friday. Photo: EPA-EFE

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Beijing pledges US$13.8 million and sends emergency rescue team after Friday’s magnitude 7.7 quake killed more than 1,000 people


Beijing pledges US$13.8 million and sends emergency rescue team after Friday’s magnitude 7.7 quake killed more than 1,000 people.
