Survivors were pulled from the rubble in Myanmar, and rescuers detected signs of life beneath a collapsed skyscraper in Bangkok on Monday as search efforts intensified three days after a devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake killed nearly 2,000 people.
In Myanmar’s Mandalay, near the quake’s epicenter, rescuers freed four people – including a pregnant woman and a young girl – from the wreckage, China’s Xinhua News Agency reported.
Meanwhile, in Bangkok, officials confirmed signs of life beneath the ruins of an unfinished skyscraper that collapsed during the quake, Deputy Governor Tavida Kamolvej said.
Rescuers were urgently working on how to access the area, given three days had passed since the quake, she said.
By medical standards, the chances of survival diminish after 72 hours, she said, adding: "We have to speed up. We're not going to stop even after 72 hours."
Thailand’s official death toll stood at 18 on Sunday but could rise, with 76 people still missing at the site of the collapsed building. Scanning machines and sniffer dogs were being used to detect signs of life.
In Myanmar, state media reported at least 1,700 confirmed deaths as of Sunday, and the military government declared a weeklong mourning period starting Monday. The Wall Street Journal, citing the junta, reported the death toll had reached 2,028.
Reuters could not immediately confirm the new toll. Media access has been restricted since the junta took power in 2021.
China, India, and Thailand, among Myanmar's neighbors, have sent relief materials and teams, along with aid and personnel from Malaysia, Singapore, and Russia.
"It doesn't matter how long we work. The most important thing is that we can bring hope to the local people," said Yue Xin, head of the China Search and Rescue Team that pulled people from the rubble in Mandalay, Xinhua reported.
The United Nations said it was rushing relief supplies to survivors in central Myanmar.
“Our teams in Mandalay are joining efforts to scale up the humanitarian response despite going through the trauma themselves,” said Noriko Takagi, the U.N. refugee agency's representative in Myanmar.
The United States pledged $2 million in aid "through Myanmar-based humanitarian assistance organizations." It said in a statement that an emergency response team from USAID, which has faced significant cuts under the Trump administration, is deploying to Myanmar.
The quake’s devastation has added to the misery in Myanmar, already in turmoil from a civil war sparked by a nationwide uprising after the military coup ousted the elected government of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
A rebel group said Myanmar’s ruling military was still conducting airstrikes on villages in the aftermath of the quake, and Singapore’s foreign minister called for an immediate cease-fire to aid relief efforts.
Critical infrastructure – including bridges, highways, airports, and railways – across the country of 55 million is damaged, slowing humanitarian efforts while the conflict, which has displaced more than 3.5 million people and crippled the health system, continues.
