The death toll from an earthquake in Myanmar passed 1,600 on Saturday as the military government declared a state of emergency and appealed for blood donations.
The junta said 1,644 people had been killed and 3,408 injured with 139 more declared missing, according to Myanmar state media, though those figures are expected to rise. The quake also caused at least 10 deaths in Thailand, while 78 were missing after a building collapsed in Bangkok, the capital.
The epicentre of the 7.7-magnitude quake was about 20km outside Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-biggest city with a population of 1.5mn, and at a depth of 10km. It was followed by two dozen aftershocks, including a nearby 6.4 magnitude quake 12 minutes after the first.
“The number of casualties is expected to rise further,” junta leader General Min Aung Hlaing said late on Friday. “In some areas, buildings have collapsed and we are still carrying out rescue operations.”
He made a plea for “as much support as possible for the ongoing rescue efforts”.
In a press briefing on Friday evening President Donald Trump described the earthquake as “terrible” and said the US would help Myanmar in the aftermath, without providing details.
His comments came on the same day that the state department formally notified Congress that it would close down the US Agency for International Development, which typically plays a critical role in disaster relief.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also offered support, while the UN allocated $5mn and the EU €2.5mn for immediate relief efforts. South Korea also pledged $2mn in assistance through international aid groups.
The quake, which was the most powerful since the 2023 earthquake in Turkey and Syria, was felt across the region, including in China’s Yunnan and Sichuan provinces, Vietnam and Bangladesh.
The US Geological Survey projected that the death toll in Myanmar could surpass 10,000 based on its modelling, as “high casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread”.
It added that economic losses could exceed the country’s GDP, which stood at $66.76bn in 2023, according to the World Bank.
UN secretary-general António Guterres said the UN was “mobilising to help those in need” in the region, especially in Myanmar, which he said was “the weakest country in this present situation”.
Videos and images on social media showed extensive destruction in Mandalay, Myanmar’s historic capital, where temples were destroyed, the royal palace was damaged and a 90-year-old bridge collapsed. Cracks erupted in the highway to Yangon, the most populous city.
China sent Rmb100mn ($14mn) of emergency aid and dispatched rescue teams from Beijing and south-western Yunnan province to Myanmar, according to Chinese state media. The Chinese foreign ministry said in an earlier statement that it had not received reports of deaths of Chinese citizens.
Russia also sent two planes of rescue and medical staff, including K-9 teams, to Myanmar, according to state news agency Tass.
The disaster struck as Myanmar has been wracked by a civil war since a 2021 coup that overthrew the elected government of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
The northern part of the country near the earthquake’s epicentre has been hit particularly hard by fighting between the military and armed pro-democracy and ethnic minority groups. About 3.5mn people are displaced internally, according to the UN.
The military has tightly controlled access to the information, instituting internet controls and repressing local media, while western sanctions have isolated the country and throttled its economy.
Starlink, Elon Musk’s satellite internet network, said it was preparing to offer equipment to support “communication and relief efforts”, pending government approval. The system is not licensed in Myanmar, but armed resistance groups have used it to evade government internet controls, according to local media reports.
There are also concerns about access for humanitarian relief efforts within Myanmar, where military governments have restricted international aid to disaster victims, according to rights groups, including in the wake of Cyclone Mocha in 2023 and Cyclone Nargis in 2008, which killed more than 100,000.
In a statement, the head of Médecins Sans Frontières in Myanmar Federica Franco said the situation was “incredibly challenging, not just to get information, but also to reach physically those people that are urgently in need of help”.
She added that there were “significant communication blackouts in some of the hardest hit areas . . . due to the ongoing conflict”.
Bangkok, the Thai capital of 17mn, was warily returning to normal on Saturday morning, with businesses reopening and monks making rounds for morning alms.
Metro and light rail services mostly resumed, as did flights from the city’s airports, albeit with some disruption.
The worst damage to the city, which is 600 miles from the earthquake’s epicentre, came after a 33-storey building collapsed, trapping dozens of workers.
Nattanan, 27, was at the site of the collapse on Friday night seeking news of his father, who works as a foreman. “I’m still waiting for hope,” he told the Financial Times.
Additional reporting by William Langley in Guangzhou and AP
