Myanmar earthquake kills 1,000, USGS predicts toll could exceed 10,000

Foreign rescue teams began flying into Myanmar on Saturday to aid the search for survivors from an earthquake that killed more than 1,000 people in the impoverished Southeast Asian nation crippling critical infrastructure amid a grinding civil war.

The death toll in Myanmar was 1,002, the military government said on Saturday, up sharply from initial state media reports of 144 dead on Friday.

At least nine people were killed in neighbouring Thailand, where the 7.7 magnitude quake rattled buildings and brought down a skyscraper under construction in the capital, Bangkok, trapping 30 people under debris, with 49 missing.

The U.S. Geological Service’s predictive modelling estimated the death toll could exceed 10,000 in Myanmar and that losses could exceed the country’s annual economic output.

The quake damaged roads, bridges and buildings in Myanmar, according to the junta, whose top general made a rare call for international assistance on Friday.

“Search and rescue operations are currently being carried out in the affected areas,” the junta said in a statement on state media on Saturday.

A Chinese rescue team arrived in Myanmar’s commercial capital of Yangon, hundreds of kilometres from the hard-hit cities of Mandalay and Naypyitaw, the country’s purpose-built capital, where parts of a 1,000-bed hospital were damaged.

Russia, India, Malaysia and Singapore were sending planeloads of relief supplies and personnel. Moreover, South Korea said it would provide an initial $2 million in humanitarian aid to Myanmar through international organisations.

The United States, which has a testy relationship with the Myanmar military and has sanctioned its officials, including junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, has said it would provide some assistance.

In Bangkok, 1,000 km (620 miles) from the epicentre, a rescue mission stepped up its efforts on Saturday to find construction workers trapped under the rubble of the collapsed 33-storey tower.

Authorities used excavators, drones and search-and-rescue dogs to try to extricate the 30 people stuck, including at least 15 still showing signs of life.

“We will do everything, we will not give up on saving lives, we will use all resources,” Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said at the site.