Live: 50 Trapped Under Collapsed Bangkok Building, Help Sought From Abroad

The death toll from a major earthquake in Myanmar has risen to 1,644, the ruling junta said Saturday, with 3,408 people injured.

A statement from the junta’s information team said that at least 139 people are still missing after Friday’s shallow 7.7-magnitude quake.

Rescuers pulled a woman alive from the wreckage of a collapsed apartment building in Mandalay on Saturday, AFP journalists saw, 30 hours after a devastating quake hit Myanmar.

Phyu Lay Khaing, 30, was brought out of the Sky Villa Condominium by rescuers and carried by stretcher to be embraced by her husband Ye Aung and taken to hospital.

Intensifying its efforts for aiding relief and rescue work in earthquake-hit Myanmar under ‘Operation Brahma’, India has dispatched two naval ships to the neighbouring country while a field hospital is slated to be airlifted later on Saturday, the MEA said.

Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a briefing that two more Indian naval ships would follow under this humanitarian assistance operation.

Besides the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) being sent via aircraft, a field hospital with 118 members from Agra is expected to leave later on Saturday, he said.

India handed over the relief material to Myanmar on Saturday following a 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck the country on Friday. India’s Ambassador to Myanmar, Abhay Thakur, handed over relief material to Yangon’s Chief Minister, U Soe Thein.

In a post on X, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated, “Operation Brahma: India hands over the relief material to Myanmar. The first consignment of relief material was formally handed over to Chief Minister of Yangon U Soe Thein by Ambassador Abhay Thakur in Yangon today.”

Just a day after a series of powerful earthquakes ravaged Myanmar, claiming over a thousand lives, the nation was struck by another 5.1-magnitude tremor on Saturday, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

The latest seismic activity occurred near Myanmar’s capital, Naypyidaw, around 2.50 p.m., at a depth of 10 km. The full extent of damage and potential casualties from this new tremor, which impacted the same regions affected by Friday’s earthquakes, remains unclear.

Following the initial quake near Sagaing, the region experienced 12 aftershocks, ranging from 2.8 to 7.5 in magnitude, further exacerbating the already dire situation. 

Mandalay, Bago, Magway, northeastern Shan State, Sagaing, and Nay Pyi Taw have been identified as the hardest-hit areas, Xinhua news agency reported.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday stated that Indian Navy Ships INS Satpura and INS Savitri have headed to Yangon port in Myanmar carrying aid under Operation Brahma.

The ships are carrying 40 tonnes of humanitarian aid for earthquake-hit Myanmar.

In a post on X, S Jaishankar said, “Operation Brahma Indian Navy ships INS Satpura & INS Savitri are carrying 40 tonnes of humanitarian aid and headed for the port of Yangon.”

More than 90 people could be trapped inside the crushed remains of an apartment block in Mandalay in central Myanmar destroyed by a devastating earthquake, a Red Cross official told AFP on Saturday as rescuers worked to free the victims.

The Sky Villa Condominium development is among the buildings in Mandalay that were worst hit by Friday’s 7.7-magnitude quake, with several of its 12 storeys pancaked one on top of the other.

“Nine people are dead and 44 have been extracted alive,” the Red Cross official at the scene told AFP, requesting anonymity.

India is sending a contingent of 80 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel for relief and rescue works in earthquake-hit Myanmar, officials here said Saturday.

The personnel of the federal disaster contingency force are being deployed under ‘Operation Brahma’ with quake rescue equipment like strong concrete cutters, drill machines, hammers etc. to provide succour to the neighbouring country.

“A team of 80 NDRF personnel are being airlifted to Myanmar onboard two IAF sorties from Hindon in Ghaziabad. The teams are expected to reach by Saturday evening,” an official told PTI.

“Spoke with Senior General H.E. Min Aung Hlaing of Myanmar. Conveyed our deep condolences at the loss of lives in the devastating earthquake. As a close friend and neighbour, India stands in solidarity with the people of Myanmar in this difficult hour. Disaster relief material, humanitarian assistance, search & rescue teams are being expeditiously dispatched to the affected areas as part of #OperationBrahma,” says PM Modi.

South Korea plans to offer humanitarian aid worth $2 million to Myanmar to assist the country’s people affected by the catastrophic quake, Seoul’s foreign ministry said on Saturday. “We decided to provide $2 million worth of humanitarian assistance via an international organisation to help speedy responses against damage caused by the quake in Myanmar,” the ministry said.

Six people have died and at least 50 workers are feared trapped are a building collapsed in Bangkok yesterday due to a powerful earthquake. Authorities have sought help from abroad to rescue the trapped workers. They have also ordered an enquiry into the building collapse and formed an investigating committee.

The death count from a massive earthquake in Myanmar has passed 1,000, the ruling junta said this morning, with more than 2,000 injured. A statement from the junta’s information team said 1,002 people are known to have died in Friday’s shallow 7.7-magnitude quake, with 2,376 injured. 

About 15-tonne relief material from India, including ready-to-eat meals, tents and generator sets, arrived in Yangon this morning after a series of powerful earthquakes left 694 people dead and caused extensive damages in Myanmar yesterday.

The death toll from a massive earthquake in Myanmar has jumped to 694, with 1,670 people injured, the country’s ruling junta said Saturday. 

The shallow 7.7-magnitude quake struck northwest of the city of Sagaing in central Myanmar on Friday causing massive destruction across large parts of the country. 

A powerful earthquake centred in Myanmar has killed more than 150 people in the war-torn country and neighbouring Thailand and caused widespread damage.

Here is what we know:

Powerful, and shallow

The 7.7-magnitude quake hit northwest of Myanmar’s Sagaing at 12:50 pm (0650 GMT) on Friday at a shallow depth of 10 kilometres (six miles).

It was followed minutes later by a powerful 6.7-magnitude aftershock and a dozen smaller tremors.

Over 150 killed

At least 144 people have been confirmed dead in the quake in Myanmar, according to the country’s junta chief.

However, Min Aung Hlaing warned the toll was likely to rise given the widespread destruction across the country.

Widespread damage

The quake caused extensive damage in Myanmar.

There was massive destruction in Mandalay, where multiple buildings collapsed into piles of rubble and twisted metal coated in dust, dotted with people attempting rescues.

The Ava bridge running across the Irawaddy river from Sagaing, built nearly 100 years ago, collapsed into the swirling waters below.

Aid pleas, offers

The scale of the devastation prompted Myanmar’s isolated military regime to make a rare plea for international assistance.

Myanmar’s junta chief invited “any country, any organisation” to help with relief and said he he “opened all ways for foreign aid”.

Offers of assistance flooded in, with India among the first to say it was ready to help.

Myanmar lies on the boundary between two tectonic plates and is one of the world’s most seismically active countries, although large and destructive earthquakes have been relatively rare in the Sagaing region. “The plate boundary between the India Plate and Eurasia Plate runs approximately north-south, cutting through the middle of the country,” said Joanna Faure Walker, a professor and earthquake expert at University College London. She said the plates move past each other horizontally at different speeds. While this causes “strike slip” quakes that are normally less powerful than those seen in “subduction zones” like Sumatra, where one plate slides under another, they can still reach magnitudes of 7 to 8.

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has offered help to Myanmar and Thailand and sent condolences to its Southeast Asian neighbours after a powerful earthquake left over 150 people dead. “I extend my deepest condolences for the devastating earthquake that struck Myanmar and Thailand. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of both countries during this difficult time. Indonesia stands ready to provide all necessary support for recovery efforts in the affected areas,” he wrote on X.

India will send around 15 tonnes of relief materials in a military transport aircraft to earthquake-hit Myanmar on Saturday, news agency PTI reported citing sources. The C130J aircraft of the Indian Air Force will shortly take off for Myanmar from the Hindon air force station, the sources said, adding that the relief materials being sent include tents, sleeping bags, blankets, ready-to-eat meals, water purifiers, solar lamps, generator sets, and essential medicines.

The United Nations is mobilising relief for quake-hit Myanmar where nearly 150 people have died, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday.
“The government of Myanmar has asked for international support, and our team in Myanmar is already in contact in order to fully mobilise our resources in the region to support the people of Myanmar,” he told reporters.
While other countries have also been affected, “the epicentre is in Myanmar, and Myanmar is the weakest country in this present situation,” he added.

An earthquake of magnitude 4.2 on the Richter Scale jolted Myanmar on
Friday at 11:56 pm (local time), according to the National Center for
Seismology (NCS).
As per the NCS, the latest earthquake occurred at a depth of 10 km, making it susceptible to aftershocks.
The NCS reported the earthquake was recorded at Latitude 22.15 N and Longitude 95.41 E.

Pope Francis is showing “slight improvements” as he recovers at home from five weeks in hospital with life-threatening double pneumonia, with his voice notably now stronger, the Vatican said Friday.

The 88-year-old head of the Catholic Church is also following the news, and offered his prayers for the victims of the powerful earthquake that hit Myanmar and Thailand, the press office said.

President Donald Trump on Friday vowed the United States would assist Myanmar after it was hit by a huge earthquake that also shook Thailand, with many killed and trapped in collapsed buildings.

Trump told reporters “we will be helping” as images emerged of flattened buildings, downed bridges and cracked roads.

Over 150 people have been reportedly killed and hundreds injured after the six earthquakes hit near Sagaing in central Myanmar at 12.50pm (local time) Friday, state-run broadcaster MRTV said. 

The toll includes casualties from a hospital in capital Naypyidaw – which is likely to become a “mass casualty area”, doctors there told news agency AFP 

Myanmar, Thailand Earthquake LIVE Updates: At least 144 people were killed and 732 injured after six earthquakes – the biggest of 7.7 magnitude – hit central Myanmar at 12.50pm (local time) Friday, state-run broadcaster MRTV has said.

Tremors and aftershocks struck parts of Thailand, China, India, Vietnam, and Bangladesh.

The WHO said it had triggered its emergency management system in response to Friday’s “huge” earthquake in Myanmar and was mobilising its logistics hub in Dubai to prepare trauma injury supplies.

The World Health Organization is coordinating its earthquake response from its Geneva headquarters “because we see this as a huge event” with “clearly a very, very big threat to life and health”, spokeswoman Margaret Harris told a media briefing.

“We’ve activated our logistics hub to look particularly for trauma supplies and things like external fixators because we expect that there will be many, many injuries that need to be dealt with,” Margaret Harris said.

She said the WHO would also be concentrating on getting in essential medicines, while the health infrastructure in Myanmar itself might be damaged.

About 20 people have died at a major hospital in Myanmar’s capital after a huge earthquake hit the country, causing widespread destruction, a doctor told AFP.

“About 20 people died after they arrived at our hospital so far. Many people were injured,” said the doctor at the 1,000-bed general hospital in Naypyidaw, who requested anonymity.

#WATCH | Delhi | On the Myanmar-Thailand earthquake, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri says, “…we are currently analysing report of damage primarily in Myanmar. We are in touch with the authorities in Myanmar and are also looking at the exact requirements in terms of the… pic.twitter.com/cQd946UoSR

— ANI (@ANI) March 28, 2025

Rows of wounded lay outside the emergency department of the 1,000-bed hospital in Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw on Friday, some writhing in pain and others in shock after a powerful earthquake.

A stream of casualties were brought to the hospital — some in cars, others in pickups, and others carried on stretchers, their bodies bloody and covered in dust.

“This is a mass casualty area”, a hospital official said, as they ushered journalists away from the treatment area.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday the 27-nation bloc stood ready to help after a strong, deadly earthquake hit Myanmar and Thailand.

“Heartbreaking scenes from Myanmar and Thailand after the devastating earthquake. My thoughts are with the victims and their families,” von der Leyen wrote on X. “Europe’s Copernicus satellites are already helping first responders. We are ready to provide more support.”

After powerful earthquake tremors recorded in Bangkok and in other parts of Thailand, the Embassy is closely monitoring the situation in coordination with the Thai authorities. So far, no untoward incident involving any Indian citizen has been reported.
In case of any emergency,…

— India in Thailand (@IndiainThailand) March 28, 2025

Initial reports on the impact of a 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Myanmar on Friday indicate significant damage in the centre of the country, an official from the United Nations Office on Humanitarian Affairs said.

“We are gathering information about the people impacted, infrastructure damage, and immediate humanitarian needs to guide a response,” a spokesperson said.

At least three workers were killed when a 30-storey under-construction tower collapsed in Bangkok after a major earthquake on Friday, the Thai deputy prime minister said.

Phumtham Wechayachai said 81 people were trapped in the rubble after the collapse, which followed the powerful 7.7 magnitude quake centred in Myanmar.

Rows of wounded lay outside the emergency department of the 1,000-bed hospital in Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw, some writhing in pain and others in shock after a powerful earthquake.

A stream of casualties were brought to the hospital — some in cars, others in pickups, and others carried on stretchers, their bodies bloody and covered in dust.

“This is a mass casualty area”, a hospital official said, as they ushered journalists away from the treatment area.

The hospital’s emergency department was itself heavily damaged, a car crushed under the heavy concrete of its fallen entrance.

People were seen sitting stunned with their head in their hands, blood caking their faces and limbs.

Myanmar’s ruling junta made a rare request for international humanitarian aid and declared a state of emergency across six regions after a powerful quake hit the country.

AFP reporters saw junta chief Min Aung Hlaing arrive at a hospital in Naypyidaw where wounded were being treated after the 7.7-magnitude quake hit central Myanmar.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand suspended all trading activities for the afternoon session after a strong earthquake struck neighbouring Myanmar, the tremors of which were felt in Thailand’s capital, Bangkok.

“Following the earthquake incident, the Stock Exchange of Thailand hereby announces the immediate suspension of all trading activities,” the bourse operator said on its website.

“The closure affects all markets, including SET, the Market for Alternative Investment (MAI), and the Thailand Futures Exchange (TFEX), for today’s afternoon session.”

In the Thai capital of Bangkok, a 30-storey building under construction collapsed, trapping 43 workers, police and medics said.

The massive building intended for government offices was reduced to a tangle of rubble and twisted metal in seconds, footage shared on social media showed.

Across the border in Myanmar, a team of AFP journalists were at the National Museum in Naypyidaw when the earthquake struck.

Pieces fell from the ceiling as the building began shaking. Uniformed staff ran outside, some trembling and tearful, others grabbing cellphones to try to contact loved ones. 

Roads nearby were buckled and broken by the tremors and the route to one of the city’s biggest hospitals was jammed with traffic.

A powerful earthquake rattled Myanmar and neighbouring Thailand, trapping dozens of workers in a collapsed under-construction skyscraper in Bangkok where a state of emergency was declared.

The 7.7-magnitude tremor hit northwest of the city of Sagaing on Friday afternoon at a shallow depth, the United States Geological Survey said. A 6.4-magnitude aftershock hit the same area minutes later.