Foreign rescue teams began arriving in Myanmar on Saturday to help search for survivors of an earthquake that killed more than 1,000 people in the impoverished Southeast Asian country, destroying critical infrastructure amid a civil war.
The death toll in Myanmar has risen to 1,002, the military government said on Saturday, up sharply from an initial state media report of 144 dead on Friday, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.
At least nine people have died in neighboring Thailand, where a 7.7-magnitude earthquake shook buildings and toppled a skyscraper under construction in the capital Bangkok, trapping 30 people in the rubble and leaving 49 missing.
Estimates from the U.S. Geological Survey suggest the death toll in Myanmar could exceed 10,000 and the damage could be worse.
The earthquake in Myanmar damaged roads, bridges and buildings, the junta said, with its top general issuing an unusual appeal for international help on Friday.
“Search and rescue operations are currently underway in the affected areas,” the junta said in a statement on Saturday.
A Chinese rescue team has arrived in Myanmar’s commercial capital Yangon, hundreds of kilometers from the hard-hit cities of Mandalay and Naypyidaw, where parts of a 1,000-bed hospital were damaged.
Russia, India, Malaysia and Singapore have sent planes carrying humanitarian supplies and personnel to Myanmar, which has been ravaged by civil war since a military coup ousted the elected civilian government in 2021.
“We continue to monitor developments and more assistance will follow,” Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said.
South Korea said it would provide an initial $2 million in humanitarian aid to Myanmar through international organizations.
The United States, which has strained relations with Myanmar’s military and has imposed sanctions on its officials, including junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, said it would provide some assistance.
The earthquake struck wide swathes of the country on Friday, from the central plains around Mandalay to the Shan hills, parts of which are not fully under the junta’s control.
In Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, residents and rescue workers were trying to pull people from collapsed buildings.
