Myanmar-Thailand earthquake updates: Death toll exceeds 1,600

Thank you for joining our live coverage of the powerful earthquakes that devastated parts of Myanmar as well as neighbouring Thailand.

We have plenty of content where you can continue following all the latest developments.

You can read our up-to-date news story here, as well as our report from Mandalay and Bangkok here.

We also have a comprehensive explainer here, and a piece explaining what caused the earthquakes here.

We’ll be closing this live page soon, so let’s bring you up to speed with today’s main developments:

• At least 1,644 people have now been confirmed killed in the biggest earthquake to hit Myanmar in decades.
• There are fears the death toll could rise significantly, with some predictions estimating a figure as high as 10,000.
• Rescuers, often poorly equipped, are still searching for survivors as calls for international assistance grow.
• A number of countries are rushing in aid after the military administration, which has been under Western sanctions, made a rare call for help.
• Rescue efforts also continue in neighbouring Thailand, where dozens of people are believed missing after the collapse of a building under construction in Bangkok.

We have more information from OCHA’s update on the situation in Myanmar.

In its statement, the UN agency said:

• The earthquake caused widespread destruction of houses and severe damage to critical infrastructure.
• Initial reports indicate that Mandalay International Airport (with commercial flights cancelled until further notice), major bridges, roads, universities, hotels, historical and religious sites and public service buildings in urban and rural areas have been heavily damaged or destroyed.
• Thousands of people are spending the nights on the streets or open spaces due to the damage and destruction to home or fearing further quakes.
• Supply infrastructure and communication towers were severely impacted, electricity and water services were disrupted, including in Yangon region.
• Landline, mobile and internet networks remain unstable.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has warned damaged roads and infrastructure pose a major challenge to humanitarian operations in Myanmar.

In a new statement, the agency said the powerful earthquake severely damaged critical infrastructure including major bridges and roads, making it difficult for humanitarian operations to access areas in need.

“Damage to the Yangon-Nay Pyi Taw-Mandalay expressway led to service disruptions, with cracks and surface distortions forcing highway buses to halt operations”, it said.

“As the full scale of the disaster unfolds, urgent humanitarian assistance is needed to support those affected,” it added.

Lauren Ellery, the deputy director of programmes at International Rescue Committee Myanmar, says indications suggest the death toll in the quake-hit areas of the country is likely to rise.

“What we are hearing from our colleagues is that the numbers are likely to grow,” she told Al Jazeera from Bangkok, adding that local authorities don’t yet seem to have “a full understanding of the extent of the devastation”.

“Our colleagues reported to me this afternoon about one of the towns near Mandalay, with reports that 80 percent of the town is collapsed, but because of communication challenges this information isn’t really reaching people yet,” Ellery said.

In terms of the most pressing needs, Ellery noted initial reports point to shelter, healthcare, food, water and basic necessities, as well as psychosocial support due to the trauma people are going through.

In Bangkok, hope is fading among relatives and friends of the dozens of people still missing at the site of the collapsed high-rise under construction near the Thai capital’s popular Chatuchak market.

“I was praying that 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 also told AP she hadn’t heard from her daughter Kanlayanee since a phone call about an hour before the earthquake. A friend told her Kanlayanee had been working high on the building on Friday.

“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.

The US Geological Survey has estimated the death toll in Myanmar could surpass 10,000.

The agency’s predictive model has also estimated that economic losses due to the earthquake may top the country’s annual economic output.

Hundreds of Muslim worshippers are feared among the dead in Myanmar after the earthquake struck as people gathered at mosques for Friday prayers during Ramadan.

According to the shadow National Unity Government, more than 50 mosques across the country sustained damage.

A 39-year-old resident of the Mandalay region described harrowing scenes as he tried to save a man trapped under the debris of a collapsed mosque in Sule Kone village but had to flee because of strong aftershocks.

“I had to leave him behind … I went in a second time to try to save him,” he told Reuters, declining to be identified. “I retrieved four people with my own hands. But unfortunately, three were already dead and one died in my arms.”

The resident said 10 people had been killed there, and they were among 23 who died at three mosques that were destroyed in the village. Government restrictions had prevented them being upgraded, he said.

Muslims are a minority in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar and have been marginalised by successive governments, while ultranationalist groups have in recent years incited violence.

Myanmar authorities have for decades made it difficult for Muslims to obtain permission to repair or build mosques, according to a 2017 report by the US State Department, which said historic mosques have deteriorated because routine maintenance was denied.

Buddhist buildings were also badly hit by the earthquake, with 670 monasteries and 290 pagodas damaged, according to the military government. It did not mention any mosques in its damage report.

In Bangkok, rescue efforts continue to focus on the collapsed 30-storey building, which was under construction at the time the earthquake hit.

The search has been complicated by the fact there is no clear indication where in the building the estimated 47 missing workers were when it collapsed, rescue worker Atikom Watkoson told Al Jazeera.

But sign of survivors have been detected and heavy machinery has been brought in to help clear the mountain of debris from the site, he said.

Still, “there is a lot of work left to get through,” Atikom Watkoson said.

Across Bangkok, engineers and government officials are now inspecting the integrity of the city’s hundreds of skyscrapers, with residents of many high-rise buildings reporting cracks in walls and floors.

“It’s all high-rise buildings in Bangkok’s city centre,” said Sirin Hiranthanakasem, a resident in the capital who fled down 23 flights of stairs when the earthquake struck and is now staying in a hotel, too afraid to return to her apartment.

“If something was to collapse, we would not survive,” she said. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has also opened an online portal for people in the capital to report damage to buildings.

Despite the chaos resulting from the earthquake and authorities declaring the city a disaster zone, Bangkok has quickly returned to normal.  The city’s airports functioning and light rail system back up and running, with most shops and restaurants back in operation.

Still, Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minster Anutin Charnvirakul said all possible resources have been deployed to search for survivors at the site of the building collapse and recover the bodies of the deceased.

“We always have hope,” he told reporters of the possibility of finding workers alive. “We’re still working around the clock.”

Mandalay resident Sandar Win has told Al Jazeera how her six-year-old son was trapped under falling debris and suffered a fractured pelvis.

The 45-year-old said she brought her boy to Mandalay General Hospital but they were turned away as the facility was overcrowded with victims of the earthquake.

“So we had to go to a private hospital. He is now in the operating room,” Sandar Win said. “He is our only child. My heart is dying to see my son like this.”

Shops, restaurants and teashops are closed and there are crowds at Mandalay’s petrol stations, with people in need of fuel for electric generators as power is out in the city of more than 1.5 million.

Ambulances have been seen speeding in the direction of Pyin Oo Lwin, a town situated in the scenic hills about 64km (40 miles) east of Mandalay and popular with foreign tourists and visitors from other parts of Myanmar.

Wai Phyo, a rescue worker, said search and recovery teams were doing their best but were overwhelmed by the scale of destruction and the lack of “proper equipment”.

“There are many people still trapped under the debris. We hope to get them alive but the hope is not so bright,” Wai Phyo told Al Jazeera, adding that communications were also a problem as they barely had phone lines and access to the internet was almost impossible.

Myanmar’s military has sent troops to the affected areas, but “they are not helping,” Wai Phyo said.

“We don’t need them here,” he said, adding: “We need proper aid.”

Find out more here.

Charles III has published a statement on X in which he says he and his wife Queen Camilla were “shocked and saddened to learn of the devastating earthquake in Myanmar” and sent their “deepest possible sympathy” to the victims.

“I know people in Myanmar continue to endure so much hardship and tragedy in your lives, and I have long admired your extraordinary resilience and spirit,” the 76-year-old British monarch said.

While Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, used to be a British colony, it is not a member of the Commonwealth bloc of nations headed by Charles III.

Kyi Minn, the national director of World Vision International – Myanmar, says nothing like this has happened in the more than 30 years his organisation has been operating in the country.

Speaking to Al Jazeera from Yangon, Kyi Minn said World Vision’s team in Mandalay is currently doing a rapid needs assessment while the organisation is trying to start its relief effort immediately.

He said the most pressing needs were the delivery of dry food and drinking water.

“We worry that there will be a water crisis because some of the water resources have also been damaged,” Kyi Minn said.

He added that major challenges included the transportation of relief materials as highways have been badly damaged while the airports in Mandalay and Naypyidaw have both been closed.

“Some areas you even cannot cross and some bridges are broken – even to transport the relief items from Yangon or elsewhere to the affected areas will be quite challenging,” Kyi Minn said.

As we’ve been reporting, a 33-storey building has collapsed in Bangkok trapping more than 100 workers.

Tun Lin Aung, a construction worker from Myanmar who has worked at the site for five months, described his experience: “I was working on the ground floor when the earthquake began, everything was shaking. The rest of my colleagues were on the 13th and 14th floors.

“I felt dizzy immediately, and the girl working next to me said that she also felt dizzy. Then, things were falling down from high floors. We were scared and urged each other to run. The rest of people on the high floors didn’t escape, and were buried under debris.”

The 28-year-old added: “Many of my colleagues are there under that rubble, and many other people are dying here. Now I am waiting here with their families, hoping to see someone being pulled out alive.”

Harry Roberts, a Bangkok-based volunteer with the international disaster relief charity Shelterbox, has described scenes of shock and panic in the immediate moments yesterday after the earthquake struck.

“People were crying. There was a lot of things going around,” he told Al Jazeera. “We’ve got these real high-rise blocks around us, and these buildings were swaying; windows were breaking or things were falling off.”

He said the situation in Myanmar was likely to be “very complex” and “really serious” considering the government’s rare appeal for international help.

“That request must trickle down to immigration and customs, so nongovernmental organisations like ourselves can get the immediate aid in there,” Roberts said.

“At this stage, it’s largely about gathering information and assessing the accessibility into the country.”

After more than 24 hours of desperate searching, overwhelmed rescuers in Myanmar’s Mandalay are pleading for help as they struggle to free hundreds of people trapped in buildings destroyed by the devastating earthquake.

“There are many victims in condo apartments. More than 100 were pulled out last night,” one rescue worker who requested anonymity told AFP.

Across Myanmar’s second-largest city, rescuers in flip-flops and minimal protective equipment picked by hand over the remains of buildings, shouting into the rubble in the hope of hearing the answering cry of a survivor.

Widespread power cuts have hampered rescue efforts, with emergency personnel relying on portable generators for power. Many are exhausted and desperate for relief.

“We have been here since last night. We haven’t got any sleep. More help is needed here,” the rescue worker told the news agency.

“We have enough manpower but we don’t have enough cars. We are transporting dead bodies using light trucks. About 10-20 bodies in one light truck.”

Satellite photos from Planet Labs PBC and analysed by the news agency AP, show that the earthquake has toppled the air traffic control tower at Naypyidaw international airport.

The photos showed that debris lay scattered from the top of the tower, which controlled all air traffic in Myanmar’s capital.

It wasn’t immediately clear if there had been any injuries in the collapse, though the tower would have had staff inside it at the time of the earthquake on Friday.

It likely also stopped air traffic into the international airport, given all electronics and radar would have been routed into the tower for controllers.

Flights carrying rescue teams from China have landed at the airport in Yangon instead of going directly to the airports in the major stricken cities of Mandalay and Naypyidaw.

Here’s what you need to know:

• The number of dead from Friday’s powerful earthquake that hit Myanmar has surpassed 1,000, with more bodies being recovered from the rubble.
• More than 2,000 people have been injured, and many others are missing.
• A Red Cross official has reportedly said more than 90 people could be trapped inside the crushed remains of an apartment block in Mandalay, the city where most of the damage has occurred.
• Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the Head of Myanmar’s military government, has visited hard-hit Mandalay, located near the epicentre of the devastating earthquake.
• China has led international aid efforts, sending an 82-person team of rescuers to Myanmar and pledging to provide the country with 100 million yuan ($13.8m) in emergency humanitarian assistance, with shipments to begin on Monday.
• Rescue efforts are also continuing in Thailand’s capital, Bangkok, where at least 101 people are missing.