Thailand and Myanmar earthquake death toll tops 1,600: What to know

The death toll is rising quickly in Myanmar following a devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake Friday. 

Rescue efforts are underway especially in the major stricken cities of Mandalay, the country's No. 2 city, and Naypyitaw, the capital. But even though teams and equipment have been flown in from other nations, they are hindered by the airports in those cities being damaged and apparently unfit to land planes.

Myanmar earthquake 

What we know:

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

Myanmar’s ruling military said Saturday that the confirmed death toll rose to 1,644, as more bodies were pulled from the rubble. 

The new total is a sharp rise compared to the 1,002 total announced just hours earlier, underlining the difficulty of confirming casualties over a widespread region and the likelihood that the numbers will continue to grow from Friday's quake. The number of injured increased to 3,408, while the missing figure rose to 139.

Thailand earthquake

What we know:

In neighboring Thailand, the quake rocked the greater Bangkok area, home to around 17 million people, and other parts of the country.

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Bangkok city authorities said the number of confirmed dead was now 10, nine at the site of the collapsed high-rise under construction near the capital’s popular Chatuchak market, while 78 people were still unaccounted for. Rescue efforts were continuing in the hope of finding additional survivors.

Thai authorities said that the quake and aftershocks were felt in most of the country's provinces. Many places in the north reported damage to residential buildings, hospitals and temples, including in Chiang Mai, but the only casualties were reported in Bangkok.

What we don't know:

U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that Washington was going to help with the response, but the extent of U.S. aid is unclear given his administration’s deep cuts in foreign assistance.

What they're saying:

 "I was praying that they had survived but when I got here and saw the ruin — where could they be? In which corner? Are they still alive? I am still praying that all six are alive," said 45-year-old Naruemol Thonglek, sobbing as she awaited news about her partner, who is from Myanmar, and five friends who worked at the site.

Waenphet Panta said she hadn't heard from her daughter Kanlayanee since a phone call about an hour before the quake. A friend told her Kanlayanee had been working high on the building on Friday.

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"I am praying my daughter is safe, that she has survived and that she’s at the hospital," she said, Kanlayanee’s father sitting beside her.

Myanmar’s civil war

Dig deeper:

Myanmar, also known as Burma, is in the throes of a prolonged civil war, which is already responsible for a 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.

Myanmar’s government said that blood was in high demand in the hardest-hit areas. In a country where prior governments sometimes have been slow to accept foreign aid, Min Aung Hlaing said that Myanmar was ready to accept outside assistance.

Myanmar’s military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, and is now involved in a civil war with long-established militias and newly formed pro-democracy ones.

Military forces continued their attacks even after the quake, said Dave Eubank, a former U.S. Army Special Forces soldier who founded the Free Burma Rangers, a humanitarian aid organization that has provided assistance to both combatants and civilians in Myanmar since the 1990s.

Eubank told The Associated Press that in the area he was operating in, most villages have already been destroyed by the military so the earthquake had little impact.

Are earthquakes common in Thailand?

Big picture view:

Earthquakes are rare in Bangkok, but relatively common in Myanmar. The country sits on the Sagaing Fault, a major north-south fault that separates the India plate and the Sunda plate.

Brian Baptie, a seismologist with the British Geological Survey, said that the quake caused intense ground shaking in an area where most of the population lives in buildings constructed of timber and unreinforced brick masonry.

"When you have a large earthquake in an area where there are over a million people, many of them living in vulnerable buildings, the consequences can often be disastrous," he said in a statement.

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