Aid rushes into Myanmar as earthquake's death toll continues to rise
Dozens of people missing at scene of collapsed highrise in Thailand's capital
Emergency aid has streamed into Southeast Asia in the two days since a massive earthquake struck Myanmar and Thailand. Relief efforts are focused on Myanmar, where the estimated death toll rose to 1,644 by Sunday.
The number of dead from Friday's 7.7 magnitude quake is expected to increase. The number of injured was 3,408, while the estimated number of missing rose to 139 on Sunday.
The earthquake's epicentre was near Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city with 1.5 million people. In neighbouring Thailand, the death toll from the quake rose to 17.
While food, medicine and other vital supplies have reached Myanmar, a report issued Saturday by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said rescue efforts have been hampered by a severe shortage of medical supplies including trauma kits, blood bags, anesthetics, assistive devices, essential medicine and tents to house health workers.
"We fear it may be weeks before we understand the full extent of destruction caused by this earthquake," said Mohammed Riyas, the Myanmar director of the International Rescue Committee (IRC).
Report of junta launching airstrikes
Amid the earthquake crisis, the Myanmar military conducted airstrikes on villages Sunday, according to the Karen National Union, one of the country's oldest ethnic armies.
The group said that under normal circumstances, the military would be prioritizing relief efforts but instead is focused on "deploying forces to attack its people."
A spokesperson for the junta did not reply to queries about the group's statement.
Myanmar has been locked in civil war with multiple armed opposition groups since a 2021 coup, when the military seized power from the elected government of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Myanmar man pulled alive from wreckage
In badly hit Naypyidaw, Myanmar's third-largest city, a man who had been trapped under the rubble of a collapsed building for around 40 hours was pulled out alive by rescue teams from Singapore and Myanmar on Sunday, Myanmar's army-run TV reported.
According to fire officials, the man had been trapped underneath a collapsed three-storey building and was extracted using "cutting and breaking equipment" to tear through the concrete. He remains in stable condition and has been taken to a local hospital.
In Thailand, search efforts by rescue workers and K-9 units continued Sunday in the capital Bangkok at the scene of an under-construction tower that collapsed in the quake.
A mother of a missing construction worker was seen deeply distraught as she watched the search mission on Sunday, and repeatedly shouted out for her daughter's name.
At least 78 people remain trapped under the debris of the collapsed building, but the conditions of the rubble pile and the unstable structure are hindering rescue efforts.
"The area in which we could work on is very limited due to metal debris and sharp edges. It is also hard for us to try and get inside so we had to try to find (ways inside) from around the edges, or where the dogs can get into", said a police K-9 unit officer at the scene.
'Overall feeling in Thailand is great sadness'
A Canadian visitor to Thailand, Sage Rich, was on the top floor of a three-storey market building in Chiang Mai when the earthquake struck. She sat on the floor as the building swayed, "hoping that the roof didn't collapse on us."
Rich said when she reached street level, she saw around 2,000 people in the street, "very distraught and shaken."
"The overall feeling in Thailand is great sadness. A lot of people from Myanmar are working in Thailand, so there are a lot of close connections, like family, even though it's a different country," she told CBC News on Sunday, speaking from the Thai island of Kos Samet.
On Sunday, a convoy of 17 Chinese cargo trucks carrying critical shelter and medical supplies was expected to reach Mandalay. China said it has sent more than 135 rescue personnel and experts along with supplies like medical kits, generators, earthquake detectors and drones while pledging around $13.8 million US in emergency aid.
Hong Kong on Saturday dispatched 51 search-and-rescue personnel including firefighters and ambulance personnel as well as two search-and-rescue dogs. The group brought eight tonnes of equipment, including life detectors and an automatic satellite tracking antenna system, according to a statement on the Hong Kong government's website.
Russia's Emergencies Ministry said it had flown in 120 rescuers and supplies to Yangon, Myanmar's largest city, and Russia's Health Ministry said Moscow had sent a medical team that includes specialists in infectious diseases, resuscitation, traumatology and psychology, as well as search and rescue teams with canine units and devices that can search in rubble up to 4.5 metres deep.
Two Indian C-17 military transport aircraft on Saturday brought in a field hospital unit and some 120 personnel who travelled north to Mandalay to establish a 60-bed emergency treatment centre, the country's Foreign Ministry said. India previously said it planned to send five aircrafts and four ships with relief supplies along with rescue and medical teams.
Aid agencies contributing
The UN humanitarian affairs office said it has mobilized with other groups and $5 million US has been allocated from a Central Emergency Response Fund for "life-saving assistance."
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies released $2.2 million US in emergency funds to support the organization's work in Myanmar, Jagan Chapagain, the organization's secretary general and CEO, said in a social media post Sunday.
Cara Bragg, the Yangon-based manager of Catholic Relief Services in Myanmar, said relief efforts have largely consisted of local volunteers trying to find loved ones.
Despite the influx of countries sending search and rescue teams, "hospitals are really struggling to cope with the influx of injured people, there's a shortage of medical supplies, and people are struggling to find food and clean water," Bragg said.
With files from CBC News and Reuters