Myanmar, Thailand rescuers race to find more survivors days after deadly earthquake

Thomson Reuters

· Posted: Mar 31, 2025 5:59 AM EDT | Last Updated: 8 hours ago

Survivors were pulled retired of rubble successful Myanmar and signs of beingness were detected successful the ruins of a skyscraper successful Bangkok connected Monday arsenic efforts intensified to find radical trapped 3 days aft a monolithic earthquake successful Southeast Asia that has present killed implicit 2,000 people.

Rescuers freed 4 people, including a large pistillate and a girl, from collapsed buildings successful Mandalay, the metropolis successful cardinal Myanmar adjacent the epicentre of Friday's 7.7-magnitude earthquake, China's Xinhua quality bureau reported.

China is among Myanmar's neighbours and 1 of respective countries to supply assistance and unit successful the rescue effort.

"It doesn't substance however agelong we work. The astir important happening is that we tin bring anticipation to the section people," said Yue Xin, caput of the China Search and Rescue Team that pulled radical retired of the rubble successful Mandalay, Xinhua reported.

Drone footage of the metropolis showed a huge, multi-storey gathering pancaked into layers of concrete, but immoderate gilded temples were inactive standing.

The decease toll from the quake successful Myanmar has reached 2,065 with much than 3,900 injured and implicit 270 missing, the country's authorities tv transmission MRTV said.

Thai officials judge determination are signs of beingness astatine site

In the Thai superior Bangkok, rescuers pulled retired different assemblage from the rubble of a skyscraper that was nether construction, bringing the decease toll from the building's collapse to 12, with a full of 19 dormant crossed Thailand and 75 inactive missing astatine the gathering site.

Bangkok Gov. Chadchart Sittipunt said rescuers are not giving up contempt the conventional-wisdom three-day model for uncovering radical live accelerated approaching.

"The hunt volition proceed adjacent aft 72 hours due to the fact that successful Turkey, radical who person been trapped for a week person survived," Chadchart said, referring to a 2023 earthquake successful which respective radical were removed, alive, after spending much than a week nether rubble.

He said instrumentality scans of the rubble indicated determination whitethorn inactive beryllium radical live underneath, and canine sniffers are being dispatched to effort to pinpoint their locations.

"We've detected anemic beingness signs and determination are galore spots," helium said.

Aid efforts complicated

The military authorities has declared a week-long mourning play from Monday.

The United Nations said it was rushing alleviation supplies to survivors successful cardinal Myanmar.

"Our teams successful Mandalay are joining efforts to standard up the humanitarian effect contempt going done the trauma themselves," said Noriko Takagi, the UN exile agency's typical successful Myanmar. "Time is of the essence arsenic Myanmar needs planetary solidarity and enactment done this immense devastation."

The effects of the civilian warfare resulting from the 2021 coup were complicating efforts to scope those injured and made stateless by the Southeast Asian nation's biggest quake successful a century, according to assistance groups.

"Access to each victims is an contented … fixed the struggle situation. There are a batch of information issues to entree immoderate areas crossed the beforehand lines successful particular," Arnaud de Baecque, nonmigratory typical of the International Committee of the Red Cross successful Myanmar, told Reuters.

One rebel radical said Myanmar's ruling subject was inactive conducting airstrikes connected villages successful the aftermath of the quake, and Singapore's overseas curate called for an contiguous ceasefire to assistance alleviation efforts.

Critical infrastructure — including bridges, highways, airports and railways — crossed the state of 55 cardinal prevarication damaged, slowing humanitarian efforts portion the struggle that has battered the economy, displaced implicit 3.5 cardinal radical and debilitated the wellness strategy rages on.

The United States pledged $2 cardinal successful assistance "through Myanmar-based humanitarian assistance organizations." It said successful a connection that an exigency effect squad from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which is undergoing monolithic cuts nether the Donald Trump administration, is deploying to Myanmar.

But the medication had antecedently projected steep cuts to USAID, with perchance hundreds of millions of dollars astatine involvement for Myanmar. According to Human Rights Myanmar, an assistance group, the U.S. accounted for a 4th of each assistance to Myanmar earlier Trump was inaugurated, and U.S. assistance was seen arsenic important for the Rohingya refugees who fled the state and languish successful camps successful Thailand and Bangladesh.