Death toll in Myanmar earthquake nears 700, with hundreds more injured

Bangkok — The death toll from a powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Myanmar jumped to nearly 700 on Saturday as more bodies were pulled from the rubble of the scores of buildings that collapsed when it struck near the country’s second-largest city.

State-run television MRTV reported that 694 people have now been found dead and another 1,670 injured, with 68 others missing, according to a statement from the military-led government. The same figures were also reported by the independent news site The Irrawaddy. 

Myanmar is in the throes of a prolonged and bloody civil war, which is already responsible for a massive humanitarian crisis. It makes movement around the country both difficult and dangerous, complicating relief efforts and raising fears that the death toll could still rise precipitously.

The earthquake struck midday Friday with an epicenter not far from Mandalay, followed by several aftershocks including one measuring a strong 6.4 magnitude. It sent buildings in many areas toppling to the ground, buckled roads, caused bridges to collapse and burst a dam.

The head of Myanmar’s military government, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, said in a rare television broadcast Friday that the death toll was expected to rise as he reported an initial 144 people found dead.

In neighboring Thailand, the quake rocked the greater Bangkok area, home to some 17 million people — many of whom live in high-rise buildings — and other parts of the country.

Bangkok city authorities said so far six people have been found dead, 26 injured and 47 are still missing, most from a construction site near the capital’s popular Chatuchak market.

When the quake hit, the 33-story high-rise being built by a Chinese firm for the Thai government wobbled, then came crashing to the ground in a massive plume of dust that sent people screaming and fleeing from the scene.  

President Trump on Friday vowed the United States would assist Myanmar after a huge earthquake hit the country, the AFP reported, following a rare plea for aid by the Southeast Asian nation’s ruling junta.

Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office he’d already spoken to the country and “It’s a real bad one, and we will be helping.”

A hospital in the Naypyitaw was struggling to deal with mass casualties after sustaining serious damage in the quake.

The U.S. Geological Survey and Germany’s GFZ center for geosciences said the first quake had a magnitude of 7.7 and was at the relatively shallow depth of about 6 miles. Its epicenter was in Myanmar, according to preliminary reports, near the city of Mandalay. An aftershock with a magnitude of 6.4 shook the region 12 minutes later.

Destruction in Myanmar

Myanmar is in the midst of a civil war and many areas are not easily accessible. Photos from Naypyidaw showed multiple buildings used to house civil servants destroyed by the quake, and rescue crews pulling victims from the rubble.

The government said blood was in high demand in the hardest-hit areas. Images of buckled and cracked roads in Mandalay and damaged highways as well as the collapse of a bridge and dam raised further concerns about how rescuers would even reach some areas in a country already enduring a widespread humanitarian crisis.

It was not immediately clear what relief efforts the ruling military regime would be able to provide, but it issued appeals for any help available, including blood supplies, from the international community. The major hospital in the country’s capital that sustained significant damage was described as a mass casualty area, as medics raced to treat the wounded in an outdoor triage area.

The hospital’s emergency department was heavily damaged, and images showed a car crushed under the concrete roof that had covered its entrance.

“Many injured people have been arriving, I haven’t seen anything like this before,” a doctor at the facility told AFP. “We are trying to handle the situation. I’m so exhausted.”

AFP journalists at the scene said people were crying in pain and others lay still as relatives tried to offer comfort.

“Hundreds of injured people are arriving… but the emergency building here also collapsed,” security officials at the hospital told AFP.

The powerful temblor damaged part of the former royal palace in Mandalay and other buildings, according to videos and photos posted to social media.

In the Sagaing region just southwest of Mandalay, a 90-year-old bridge collapsed, and some sections of the highway connecting Mandalay and Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon, were also damaged. 

A team of AFP journalists was at the National Museum in Naypyidaw when the first temblor hit, and they said pieces fell from the ceiling as the building began shaking, and nearby roads buckled.

Under-construction skyscraper collapses in Bangkok 

In densely populated Bangkok, the quakes set tall buildings swaying and prompted thousands of people to pour into streets across the city. Trading was halted on the stock exchange and public transport networks shut down in the Thai capital. 

The collapsed building was being constructed by the China Railway Construction Corporation for Thailand’s government auditor general.

Videos posted on social media showed the moment the 33-story high-rise came tumbling down, sending a massive cloud of dust into the air as workers ran away from the site. 

Rescue worker Songwut Wangpon told reporters that seven people were found alive, as he spoke next to the tall pile of rubble that was once the unfinished building near Bangkok’s popular Chatuchak Market.

Water from high-rise rooftop pools in Bangkok sloshed over the sides of the buildings as they shook from the first quake, and debris fell from many skyscrapers.

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra called an emergency meeting to assess the impact of the temblors.

The greater Bangkok area is home to more than 17 million people, many of whom live in high-rise apartments.

Alarms went off in buildings when the first quake hit around 1:30 p.m., and startled residents were evacuated down staircases of high-rise condominiums and hotels in densely populated central Bangkok.

They remained in the streets, seeking shade from the midday sun in the minutes after the first quake, and were cautioned to stay outside in case there were more aftershocks.

“All of a sudden the whole building began to move, immediately there was screaming and a lot of panic,” said Fraser Morton, a tourist from Scotland, who was in one of Bangkok’s many malls shopping for camera equipment.

“I just started walking calmly at first but then the building started really moving, yeah, a lot of screaming, a lot of panic, people running the wrong way down the escalators, lots of banging and crashing inside the mall.”

Like thousands of others in downtown Bangkok, Morton sought refuge in Benjasiri Park — away from the tall buildings all around.

“I got outside and then looked up at the building and the whole building was moving, dust and debris, it was pretty intense,” he said. “Lots of chaos.”

Thailand’s Department of Disaster Prevention said the first quake was felt in almost all regions of the country.