Death toll from devastating quake rises to more than 2,700 in Myanmar
The death toll from the devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake that hit Myanmar has surpassed 2,700, with thousands more injured, Myanmar media reported on Tuesday.
The head of Myanmar's military government, senior general Min Aung Hlaing, told a forum in the capital, Naypyitaw, that 2,719 people have now been found dead, with 4,521 others injured and 441 missing, the Western News online portal reported.
With many areas hit by Friday's earthquake still not reached by rescue crews, those numbers are still expected to rise.
The earthquake's epicentre was near the country's second-largest city, Mandalay.
Most of the reports of casualties so far have come from Mandalay and the capital, Naypyitaw.
'The needs are massive, and they are rising by the hour,' said Julia Rees, Unicef's deputy representative for Myanmar.
'The window for lifesaving response is closing. Across the affected areas, families are facing acute shortages of clean water, food, and medical supplies.'
Myanmar's fire department said that 403 people have been rescued in Mandalay and 259 bodies have been found so far. In one incident alone, 50 Buddhist monks who were taking a religious exam in a monastery were killed when the building collapsed and 150 more are thought to be buried in the rubble.
The World Health Organisation said that more than 10,000 buildings overall are known to have collapsed or been severely damaged in central and northwest Myanmar.
The earthquake also rocked neighbouring Thailand, causing a high-rise building under construction to collapse and burying many workers.
Two bodies were pulled from the rubble on Monday but dozens were still missing. Overall, there were 20 people killed and 34 injured in Bangkok, primarily at the construction site.
Foreign aid workers have been arriving slowly to help in the rescue efforts, but progress was still slow with a lack of heavy machinery in many places.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
8 hours ago
- Forbes
UNICEF Helps Dads Give Their Children The Best Possible Start In Life
On Father's Day and every day, UNICEF supports and celebrates caring dads everywhere. Thembile, a single dad, had to take on the responsibility of raising his two sons alone after their mother left the family. He struggled with disciplining his children and communicating effectively with them, until he joined a parenting support program. More than half of South Africa's children grow up in homes without a father present or a father figure playing an active role in their upbringing. UNICEF supports the South African Parenting Program Implementers Network to develop and disseminate quality parenting support resources and programs across South Africa, reaching thousands of parents and caregivers like Thembile. Being a parent is the most important job in the world. It's also a learned skill. UNICEF provides the necessary resources, support and tools fathers and mothers need to raise happy, healthy, hopeful children, from programs that encourage fathers to play with their kids from Day One to emergency assistance for families caught in unimaginable crises. Miguel Ángel Pillco Vilca, a 33-year-old minibus driver, helps his 15-month-old daughter down the slide in El Alto, Bolivia on April 23, 2025. © UNICEF/UNI788390/Laguna Growing up in Bolivia, Miguel Ángel Pilco Vilca, a 33-year-old minibus driver from El Alto, didn't have a father figure, but he's determined to be present for his 15-month-old daughter. He balances long work days with quality family time, including everyday tasks like diaper changes and supporting his wife during breastfeeding. He regularly attends the "World of Dads" program at the local health care center, where fathers share experiences and learn nurturing skills, and participated in the national forum "Dads from the Start of Life," supported by UNICEF and Bolivian ministries, promoting paternal engagement from pregnancy onward. These efforts are part of a broader UNICEF initiative encouraging fathers' early involvement in their children's development. Nearly 300 fathers in Bolivia are now part of this growing movement supporting child well-being and gender equality. Bernard, 4, his brother Balam, 9, and their father, Alphonse Batundi, head to the water point set up by UNICEF in Bushagara, located in the Nyiragongo health zone near Goma, North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on May 2, 2025. Parents caught in crises struggle to meet their children's needs and to provide them with a safe and healthy childhood, despite the circumstances. UNICEF works around the world to deliver basic services for families affected by violence, climate shock and natural disasters. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), more than 7.7 million people have been displaced from their homes by decades of armed conflict. "Life has been very hard here. Everything had been destroyed," says Alphonse Batundi, who moved his two sons to Goma, North Kivu province, to escape violence. With support from UNICEF, the family has access to clean water, a shower and toilets. Yet many challenges remain. Since fighting escalated in January 2025, many displacement sites in Goma have been dismantled. Batundi's boys, 4-year-old Bernard and 9-year-old Balam, miss going to school. 'I'm truly grateful for everything,' Batundi says. 'But we still need help. There's no hospital here in Bushagara. If a child falls ill, we don't know where to take them. We would really like to have access to health care and medicine.' Douglas Bashonga, father of seven, sits with his wife and three of their children outside their home in Bushusha, Idjwi health zone, South Kivu province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on May 1, 2025. Douglas was treated for cholera at the UNICEF-supported Kihumba cholera treatment center. When Douglas Bashonga, a coffee grower in the DRC, fell ill with cholera, his wife and children rushed him to the UNICEF-supported Kihumba cholera treatment center. 'I was very ill," he says. "I could no longer work or take care of my family. What worried me most was not being able to provide for my children, rather than my own pain. 'I was very ill. I could no longer work or take care of my family. What worried me most was not being able to provide for my children, rather than my own pain.' Thanks to the free treatment he received at the center, Bashonga recovered and eventually regained his strength. 'When I returned home, I decided to protect my family,"he says. "The doctors advised me to always wash my hands with soap or ash, to boil water before drinking it, and to remain vigilant for any symptom. I implemented all these recommendations immediately ... and that reassures me the most. None of my family members or neighbors became infected. This proves that prevention works.' Related: What It Takes to Support Children Fleeing Violence in Eastern DRC Lijay Solofa, a police officer, plays with 4-year-old Nakitah and 3-year-old Lisona, in the village of Vaitele in Apia, Samoa on April 27, 2025. In Samoa, days are full for police officer Lijay Solofa, his wife, Telesia, and their six children. Solofa always makes time to play with his kids, even the youngest, 11-month-old LJ. He knows that in the first 1,000 days, babies' brains form new connections at an astounding rate: up to 1,000 every single second — a pace never repeated again. UNICEF supports early childhood development (ECD) in the Pacific by promoting good health, adequate nutrition, safety, responsive caregiving and learning opportunities, while also addressing gender-transformative norms and violence prevention. Salimata Samassi and Adama Kone at home with the youngest of their four children, 4-month-old Massita, in Odienne, northern Côte d'Ivoire on Oct. 16, 2024. Baby Massita weighed less than two pounds when she was born at home in Côte d'Ivoire. "She was so small and fragile that we thought she wouldn't make it," says her father, 40-year-old Adama Kone. The nearest hospital was 43 miles away. "I called the hospital; there was no ambulance, but they told us to come as quickly as possible and keep her very warm," Kone says. "I took my motorcycle, with my wife, who had just given birth, sitting behind me, holding the little one wrapped up. It was the longest hour of my life." Massita was treated at a UNICEF-supported hospital in Seguelan, and spent a few days in an incubator. "Afterwards, we were taught how to do kangaroo care," Kone recalls. "We stayed in the hospital during that time. Honestly, I was so scared, but we remained hopeful. We are so happy with our angel.' Celebrate the fathers in your life by making a donation to UNICEF, to help ensure every child grows up healthy, educated, protected and respected. Your contribution is more important than ever. Right now, the lives of the most vulnerable children hang in the balance as conflicts and crises jeopardize the care and protection that they deserve. Dependable, uninterrupted and effective foreign aid is critical to the well-being of millions of children. Please contact your members of Congress and urge them to support ongoing U.S. investments in foreign assistance.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
World fails to meet 2025 child labor target
There are now 138 million child laborers, down from an estimated 160 million in 2020, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) said in a joint report that was released to mark Thursday's World Day against Child Labor. The drop represents good news for child welfare, as in 2000, the ILO estimated 245.5 million children were working. The almost 50% decrease is especially promising as the number of children has risen by 230 million over the same period. The number of children, which the ILO defines as 5 to 17-year-olds, engaged in "hazardous work" — mostly in mining, industrial or agricultural sectors — has also decreased from 79 million in 2020 to 54 million in 2025. However, the ILO says even optimistic estimates project it will be decades before child labor is completely eliminated. Around 86.6 million child laborers — almost two-thirds of all child laborers — are in sub-Saharan Africa. Nankali Maksud, regional advisor for child protection at UNICEF, told DW: "In terms of prevalence rate, it has been reduced. So we've gone from 24% to 22% between 2020 and 2024. But what we're challenged with in this region is the rapid population growth. So in absolute numbers, we haven't made much progress." Particularly concerning for Maksud is that younger children (aged 5 to 11) make up the largest share of child laborers. "We're not addressing seriously enough poverty at household level, particularly in rural areas. Unless we have the right political will and financing to lift those households, we will not be able to address child labor," she told DW. Additionally, Maksud believes regional efforts to increase access to quality education — through building schools and encouraging parents to send children to school — must be prioritized, as well as stronger enforcement of laws to punish child labor practices. Recommendations also include more stringent labor inspections in high-risk sectors like mining and agriculture, and improved supply chain accountability. "The majority of our countries have laws in place," Maksud told DW, noting that enforcement of those laws is weak. "The ministries responsible for issues like child labor, most of the time, they have the smallest budget lines." Lisa Zimmerman, head of the UNICEF country office in Madagascar, said 47% of 5- to 17-year-olds there are affected by child labor — much higher than in other parts of sub-Saharan Africa. "Child labour affects boys a little bit more than girls. It also affects children in rural areas more than those in urban areas, and it generally affects children from poor families," Zimmerman told DW, adding that "32% of all children in Madagascar actually engaged in work under dangerous conditions, so that is the worst form of child labor." Multiple climate-related problems, from drought to cyclones, have plagued agriculture-dependent Madagascans. "Climatic shocks push families and children into labor, new forms of labor and into more hazardous forms of labor," Zimmermann told DW. Some rural communities in arid southwestern Madagascar have turned to mica mining, instead of alongside agricultural practices. Madagascar is the third largest exporter of mica, after Russia and India, and the sector has boomed in recent years as the mineral is used in the renewable energy sector. "It's then mostly children that have to climb into the mines to support their families and to have enough to eat," Zimmermann added. Mica mining in these communities often involves the whole family, from elders to young children. They also told UN researchers that if their family members do not work, they cannot afford to eat. While the ILO defines child labor as work that deprives children of their childhood, dignity, potential and development, especially with regard to schooling, communities across Africa have their own understandings of what constitutes child labor, and when it is necessary. Lydia Osei, a researcher from the University of Ghana, has observed trends within Ghanaian society. "Child labor is a huge problem, except we haven't as people made conscious efforts to deal with it," she told DW. Particularly under scrutiny in West Africa is child labor in mining, agriculture and housework. In Ghana, reports of child labor in cocoa farming and informal mining are rife. "I don't think any parent would want their child as young as 8 years to be at the quarrying site, to be hit and hurt. But because tradition allows that the child helps in the maintenance of the family, they take their children to artisanal mining sites," Osei told DW. Often, employers at mining sites participate in child labor by allowing children to work alongside their parents, with small children given jobs in sorting, or climbing into areas that adults cannot reach. "Usually, young people do not get physical cash as payment. They get some of the rocks or ore as payment," Osei told DW. "But because the underage workers are usually able to get something they classify as enough, they don't see it as exploitation. And that is why the relationship keeps going." As in other communities, the effects of children being unable to attend school and entering the job market early become apparent only in the long term. For this reason, the ILO and UNICEF say governments across sub-Saharan Africa need to introduce strategies that break the cycle of child labor. Despite the disappointment of not eliminating child labor by 2025, Maksud told DW progress is being made by the introduction legal frameworks to stop child labor, and a continent-wide growth in education opportunities, especially for girls. Maksud says as economies in sub-Saharan Africa grow it raises the chances that all communities will receive better opportunities. "Families are trying to survive and they're making choices not because they're bad people, but because they're trying to survive. And if we give them a way out that, maybe asking their children to work won't be a solution they pick," Maksud told DW. Edited by: Keith Walker
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
UNICEF: 138 million children doing child labour globally
Nearly 138 million minors were engaged in child labour worldwide in 2024, according to a new report released on Wednesday by UNICEF and the International Labour Organization (ILO). The figure includes around 54 million children in work likely to jeopardize their health and safety. Child labour occurs most frequently in agriculture, with the worst-hit region being sub-Saharan Africa, where 87 million children are affected. The figures show a decline in child labour to almost 138 million in the 2021-24 period, down from 160 million in the 2016-20 period. Nevertheless, the target of eliminating child labour by 2025, included in UN Development Goals, will not be reached. The report came ahead of the World Day Against Child Labour which is being marked on Thursday. "The new child labour report underlines the grim reality that millions of children are still being denied the right to learn, to play and simply to be a child, despite all progress," UNICEF Germany head Christian Schneider said. The successes achieved pointed the way ahead through legal protection, better social protection, investment in free and high-quality education and work with dignity and fair pay for adults. These were "effective instruments for protecting children from child labour," Schneider said.
