Death toll in Myanmar earthquake tops 1,600; 18 million people impacted
March 29 (UPI) -- The death toll from a 7.7-magnitude earthquake in Myanmar rose to more than 1,600 people on Saturday, one day after the quake, which was also felt in neighboring Thailand and China.
In Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, the toll for "all the earthquake-affected areas nationwide" rose to 1,644 from 144 on Friday, the ruling junta said in a statement on Saturday. More than 3,400 were reported injured, and hundreds were missing.
In Thailand, 640 miles away, 10 people were reported dead as rescuers searched a skyscraper under construction in Bangkok that toppled where dozens of workers remain missing.
Millions of people are at risk, Francesca Capoluongo from the International Federation of the Red Cross in Myanmar told the BBC.
Capoluongo said "the initial estimates suggest that over 18 million people live within the earthquake-impacted area, so of course we can expect these figures to keep increasing."
The U.S. Geological Survey estimated that the death toll could top 10,000.
It is the worst earthquake to strike Myanmar, a nation of 54.13 million, since 1912, when a 7.9-magnitude quake hit, according to the USGA. In 1991, a 7.0-magnitude quake hit about 100 miles north of the one Friday, according to CNN.
The epicenter Friday was 10 miles northwest of the city of Sagaing at a depth of 6 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake struck at 12:52 p.m. local time.
One aftershock measured 6.4 magnitude.
Video shows the earthquake striking Myanmar.
Myanmar is not equipped to handle natural disasters, is one of the poorest nations in Asia and has faced civil war since 2021. After a plea from the Junta, the first foreign aid has started to reach the nation.
China's leader Xi Jinping spoke on the phone to Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, who visited the hard-hit Mandalay on Saturday to inspect the damage.
Beijing will provide $13 million worth of humanitarian aid to Myanmar, its foreign aid agency said Saturday.
A Chinese team arrived in Myanmar's biggest city Yangon on Saturday morning, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
Also, Russia and India have deployed rescue teams. U.S. President Donald Trump also has pledged assistance and said he has been in contact with leaders in the country.
Damage included the air traffic control tower at Myanmar's Naypyitaw International Airport collapsed.
More than 90 people are presumed trapped under a flattened block of apartments. In all, more than 1,500 homes have been damaged in the region, the country's military council says.
Without heavy equipment, survivors are using their bare hands in dirt to attempt to rescue those trapped under rubble.
"When the quake hit, we were on U Bein Bridge in Mandalay, a city of around 1.5 million people," Zu Guolin, a 40-year-old Chinese businessman in the jade trade told CNN. "It's a wooden bridge, and we were all lying flat on it,"
"At first, the shaking was pretty mild, but then it got stronger. We were flat on our stomachs, and the bridge was swaying back and forth about 20 centimeters. It felt like we were sliding around."
He said he is safe in the New Mandalay Resort City,
"The streets in Mandalay are safe," he said. "The buildings in wealthier areas seem to have fared better, but in the city center, some places suffered serious damage."
"I really hope Mandalay bounces back soon. It's such a big city with so many people living there."
A resident told the BBC, "All the pagodas and temples, including stairways, in my village have collapsed.
"We lost everything."
The bodies of 12 preschool children and a teacher were found Saturday morning in the West Mye Mye Kyi pre-school in the Mandalay region. There were about 50 children and six teachers in the school with no survivors yet.
Yangon Electricity Supply Corporation said residents in Yanhgan, a city of 5.9 million people about 400 miles from the epicenter, will only get four hours of electricity each day.
Infrastructure was damaged as the quake unleashed the energy equivalent of more than 300 atomic bomb explosions, geologist Jess Phoenix told CNN.
"The force that a quake like this releases is about 334 atomic bombs," said Phoenix, who warned of aftershocks for several months.
The earthquake was caused by two blocks of earth slipping past each other along the Sagaing fault.
Thailand's damage
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said his country "has returned to normalcy"
Seventy-eight construction workers are believed trapped in the skyscraper rubble near Bangkok's popular Chatuchak market. Nine bodies have been recovered from the site.
Excavators were deployed.
Rescue workers detected "vital signs from 15 individuals still trapped," the city's governor said.
"No delays, no stops -- every second counts in saving lives," Chadchart Sittipunt said, adding that heavy machinery has been deployed to remove debris from the collapsed structure in the "urgent" search of survivors.
There were more than 2,000 reports of structural cracks in Bangkok buildings with the government planning detailed inspections of 700 structures, the regional governor said Saturday.
"Safety is our top priority," Sittipunt said in a statement. "Despite the collapse of one under-construction building, no completed buildings have suffered structural failure."
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