PEOPLE were pulled alive out of rubble in Myanmar and signs of life were detected in the ruins of a skyscraper in Bangkok on March 31, as efforts intensified to find survivors three days after a massive earthquake that killed over 2,000.
Reuters reported today that rescuers freed four people, including a pregnant woman and a girl, from collapsed buildings in Mandalay, the city in Myanmar near the epicentre of the 7.7-magnitude earthquake on March 28, China’s Xinhua news agency reported.
Signs of life were detected under the rubble of an under-construction skyscraper in the Thai capital that collapsed in the quake, Bangkok’s Deputy Governor Tavida Kamolvej said.
Rescuers were urgently working out how to access the area it came from, given three days had passed since the quake, she said.
By medical standards, realistic 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 was at 18 on March 30, but could shoot up with 76 people remaining 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 said at least 1,700 people have been confirmed dead as of March 30 and that the military government had declared a week-long mourning period from March 31. The Wall Street Journal, citing the Junta, reported the death toll had reached 2,028 in Myanmar.
Reuters could not immediately confirm the new death toll. Media access has been restricted in the country since the junta took power in 2021.
China, India and Thailand are among Myanmar’s neighbours that 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 out of the rubble in Mandalay, Xinhua reported.
‘Grade 3’ emergency
The World Health Organisation (WHO) on March 30 said in its flash appeal for funds that the Myanmar earthquake was “a Grade 3 emergency – the highest level of activation under its Emergency Response Framework”.
It urgently sought US$8 million (RM35.48 million) to respond to the immediate health needs over the next 30 days.
“Without immediate funding, lives will be lost and fragile health systems will falter.”
The WHO said hospitals were overwhelmed, while the scale of deaths, injuries and damage to health facilities “are not yet fully understood”.
The agency said displacement into overcrowded shelters, combined with the destruction of water systems and sanitation infrastructure, had sharply increased the risk of communicable disease outbreaks.
“This earthquake strikes amid an already dire humanitarian context marked by widespread displacement, fragile health systems, and disease outbreaks – including cholera,” it said.
“Immediate health needs include trauma and surgical care, blood transfusion supplies, anaesthetics, and essential medicines.
“Disease surveillance must be urgently strengthened to prevent outbreaks of cholera, dengue, and other communicable diseases.”
It said the high numbers of casualties and trauma injuries were at high risk of infection due to limited surgical capacity in the country, while the underlying conditions in Myanmar meant the quake was likely to intensify the risk of disease.
The United Nations said it was rushing relief supplies to estimated 23,000 quake-hit 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 UN refugee agency’s representative in Myanmar.
“Time is of the essence as Myanmar needs global solidarity and support through this immense devastation.”
The United States pledged US$2 million (RM8.87 million) in aid “through Myanmar-based humanitarian assistance organisations”. It said in a statement that an emergency response team from USAid, which is undergoing massive cuts under the Trump administration, is deploying to Myanmar.
More misery
The quake devastation has piled more misery on Myanmar, already in chaos from a civil war that grew out of a nationwide uprising after the military coup ousted the elected government of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
One rebel group said Myanmar’s ruling military was still conducting air strikes on villages in the aftermath of the quake, and Singapore’s foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan called for an immediate ceasefire to help relief efforts.
Critical infrastructure - including bridges, highways, airports and railways - across the country of 55 million lie damaged, slowing humanitarian efforts while the conflict - which has battered the economy, displaced over 3.5 million people and debilitated the health system - rages on.
Hundreds of grieving Muslims gathered for a sombre first prayer of the Eid al-Fitr festival in the street in Mandalay marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan on March 31, the death and destruction of Myanmar’s huge earthquake casting a pall of anguish over the occasion.
The minaret of the Sajja South mosque in the Muslim neighbourhood of Mawyagiwah crashed to the ground during the earthquake, killing 14 children and two adults, locals said.
Four more people were killed at the neighbouring Sajja North mosque when its tower came down.
The watching women were the first to weep. A tear, a sniffle, a cry. The emotion spread among hundreds of men lined up in the street outside two mosques where 20 of their fellow believers died.
Sobs and sighs haunted the air in the gentle morning light. Finally, the imam’s voice broke as he prayed for the souls of the dead.
“May Allah grant us all peace,” he intoned. “May all the brothers be free from danger.” - March 31, 2025
