Myanmar-Thailand earthquake: UN warns of severe medical supply shortage as about 1,700 confirmed dead – BBC.com

We can now bring you new images from Myanmar’s capital, Nay Pyi Taw.

These have been released by the country’s military leadership.

The first two show the damage done to a hospital in the city, while the third image shows a street in the city.

Ko Ko Aung
BBC World Service

The National Unity Government (NUG) was formed in April 2021, by groups that oppose the military junta currently in control of Myanmar, shortly after the military coup in February that year.

The Burmese military, known as the Tatmadaw, ousted the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, just as it was about to begin a second five-year term.

She was later jailed for over 30 years after being found guilty of multiple corruption charges.

A harsh crackdown on pro-democracy protests pushed many young people to flee to ethnic areas, where they took up arms against the military.

Many joined the NUG’s armed wing, the People’s Defence Force (PDF). Working with ethnic armed groups, they’ve become a major force, now controlling much of the country outside the main cities.

Some smaller local groups in central Myanmar also call themselves PDF, though not all are under NUG command – even if they’re fighting on the same side.

The NUG is still struggling to gain international recognition and says it’s mainly funded by Myanmar’s people at home and abroad.

Rebecca Henschke
BBC Eye reporter and former Asia editor

The Myanmar military is continuing to carry out air strikes despite condemnation from the United Nations (UN) and calls for it to halt all military operations in the wake of the earthquake.

A local unit of the People’s Defence Force – a network of pro-democracy rebel units – is reporting that the military carried out a helicopter attack on Pauk township in Magway region, which is close to the epicentre of the quake.

BBC Burmese is also reporting an air strike took place in Bahmo in Kachin state, on Sunday.

Singapore’s foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan has called for an immediate ceasefire to allow for the distribution of humanitarian aid and for long-term peace for reconstruction.

He said the military regime, that seized power in a coup four years ago, should be focusing on saving lives and helping those in need, as the country is in a “life-or-death” period following the earthquake.

He was speaking at an online meeting of foreign ministers from the regional body Asean.

UN investigators have warned the Myanmar military has carried out war crimes and crimes against humanity as it attempts to crush a nationwide uprising fighting to remove it from power.

The National Unity Government, which represents the ousted civilian administration, said its rebel units would pause fighting from today for two weeks. That appears to be holding.

The earthquake struck close to Myanmar’s second largest city, Mandalay, at 06:20 GMT on Friday – around noon in South East Asia.

The main shock was recorded as a magnitude 7.7 earthquake by the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

The earthquake was relatively shallow – about 10km down – meaning its effect was felt more strongly on the surface than a deeper quake would have been.

A second earthquake struck 12 minutes later, with a magnitude of 6.4, and a number of smaller tremors have been recorded since.

Back to Thailand, we’ve got the latest updates from officials at the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, as well as the Earthquake Incident Command Centre.

Search efforts are still under way at the site of a collapsed skyscraper, and the department says work there will now “intensify” around the clock.

Seventy-six people are still missing at the site. Eleven have been confirmed dead there, with another seven deaths reported elsewhere in Thailand.

Building inspections are continuing across the Bangkok metropolitan area, and traffic is said to be “gradually improving”.

Officials also said that business operations and services, including hospitals, are now running at full capacity. Some schools, though, may still be closed at the start of the working week while final inspections take place.

Search efforts are still under way, 55 hours after a deadly earthquake hit Myanmar.

Here we’re seeing a video showing rescuers pulling a woman out alive from the rubble.

We’ve just had an update from Myanmar’s fire services department, saying 20 people have been rescued in Shan state, which borders the badly affected regions of Mandalay and Sagaing.

Officials say nine bodies have also been recovered in the northern state, and search and rescue efforts are still under way.

As we’ve just reported, countries around the world have sent teams to Myanmar to help with search and rescue operations.

Here are a few pictures showing some of those teams on the ground in the quake-hit country.

Matt Spivey
Live editor

It’s been 55 hours since a deadly earthquake struck Myanmar, with tremors felt in neighbouring countries, resulting in the deaths of about 1,700 people.

On Sunday, another quake hit Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, as rescue teams in Thailand picked up signs of life under collapsed buildings.

International aid is pouring in thick and fast. China, India and Hong Kong have sent rescue teams to Myanmar to support efforts to find survivors.

There have been glimmers of hope within the search efforts. In Mandalay, the local fire authority says 29 people have been pulled from the rubble of a high-rise block. On Saturday, a 30-year-old woman was rescued after being trapped for about 30 hours.

In Bangkok, at the site of a collapsed skyscraper, the BBC has spoken to families waiting desperately for news.

Kannika is one of them. Her husband is missing. She says she’ll wait “for as long as it takes”, but finds it hard to explain to her son why his dad hasn’t called.

Our colleagues across the region are constantly sharing updates. Stay with us for the latest.

Since the earthquake, several countries have sent search and rescue teams to Myanmar to help. Here’s a look at some of them:

• China sent an 82-person rescue team to Myanmar on Saturday, along with another team to the commercial hub Yangon
• A 51-person team from Hong Kong, including search and rescue dogs, specialist equipment and life detectors, arrived on Sunday
• An Indian aid flight has landed in Myanmar carrying a search and rescue team, along with hygiene kits, blankets and food parcels
• Malaysia‘s foreign ministry said it would send a 50-person team to Myanmar “to support ongoing humanitarian and disaster relief operations”

• Other countries that have sent rescue teams include the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Ireland, South Korea and New Zealand

Have you been affected by the earthquake in Myanmar? Did you feel the tremors in Thailand or China?

If it’s safe to do so, please get in touch with us in the following ways:

• Email: bbcyourvoice@bbc.co.uk, external
• WhatsApp: +44 7756 165803
• Or fill out this form

Shaimaa Khalil
Reporting from Bangkok

Two of Pranit Rampuey’s colleagues are still missing under the rubble. I saw her sitting at the edge of the fenced area across from the collapse site.

She tells me she and her colleagues normally work on a different site, but they split up that day and her colleagues came here on the day of the earthquake to fill some team gaps.

“They were like family” she tells me, sobbing.

“I feel guilty”, she adds, explaining they came to the now collapsed site and she didn’t.

Her two colleagues were related – an uncle and his nephew. “He was a good boy.” She tells me of the young man. He was 27.

“I’ve been here all day and I’ve heard nothing so far. I’m still hoping they find them alive,” she says.

Nick Marsh
Reporting from Bangkok

Kannika has been waiting here, patiently, since the early hours of Saturday morning.

Her husband, Yothin, was working as the chief electrician on the 24th floor of the unfinished tower when it collapsed. She and Yothin – who are both in their mid-30s – are from a village in northern Thailand.

Yothin came to Bangkok to work on the construction site and send the money back to his family. Kannika has travelled more than 300km in the aftermath of the earthquake to wait for news about her missing husband.

He’s one of thousands of workers in Thailand who migrate to the capital to try to build a better future for their family.

“I will stay here for as long as it takes,” she tells us, wiping tears from her eyes. Their two children, aged five and 12, are being looked after by her sister back home.

Her youngest child keeps asking: “Why hasn’t dad called, why hasn’t dad called?”

“He is a very good man and a very good father. We have been together many years. I pray that they find him safe.”

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has given an update on the number of people killed in Thailand after the earthquake.

City officials say 18 people are confirmed dead, with 11 killed as a result of the collapsed skyscraper – 10 at the scene and one who died after being taken to hospital.

Thirty-three people are known to have been injured, and authorities say 78 are still missing.

Our colleagues have just finished translating comments from the news conference with Thailand’s deputy prime minister.

Anutin Charnirakul says rescue teams have been using scanners to detect signs of life under the rubble, but the signals they’ve picked up are weak.

“Maybe they don’t have energy to move their bodies or they take a light breath,” he says.

He adds that searching for survivors has been tough because of large objects that can’t be moved, but engineers are assessing the situation and rescuers are working on solutions.

Since the earthquake, there have been concerns about building safety rules in Bangkok. Charnirakul says there are thousands of buildings in the capital and most are “fine” after the quake.

“We cannot use this building as [an] example and think that we have no standard,” he comments.

Thailand’s deputy prime minister has just spoken to the media at the site of the collapsed high-rise in Bangkok.

Asked why the skyscraper – which was still under construction – came down, Anutin Charnvirakul says: “Something might have gone wrong.”

“I’ve just appointed the investigation committee to search for the reasons why it collapsed. They will report back within seven days,” he says.

He adds the investigation will look into the “designer, project controller and the builder”, saying “we will definitely find the true reasons as to why this building has collapsed”.

That was from the English part of Charnvirakul’s news conference – most of it was in Thai. Our colleagues are translating the rest now and we’ll bring you those details shortly.

Tessa Wong
Reporting from Bangkok

Now let’s move our focus from Myanmar back to Thailand, where the earthquake has had a devastating impact.

The country’s industry minister Akanat Promphan has addressed the media at the site of the Bangkok building collapse.

He says they found “anomalies” in the steel at the site and they have collected samples for testing.

His comments may be the closest we have heard so far from government officials regarding the possible reasons why the building could not withstand the quake.

While he did not explicitly say that these anomalies could be the reason, he did say that if the results of their investigation show that the steel used did not meet industry standards, his ministry will take legal action against those involved in the construction.

The building was constructed by a joint venture between Italian-Thai Development and the Thai branch of China Railway Number 10 Engineering, according to local media reports.

As we mentioned, the military junta has reportedly launched air strikes just after Friday’s earthquake. But who are they?

Here’s a quick explainer to help refresh your knowledge on Myanmar.

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, gained independence from Britain in 1948, but its history since then has been marked by unrest and conflict.

Power: The military seized power in 2021, ten years after agreeing to hand over control to a civilian government. Since then, the junta has cracked down hard on dissent, executing democracy activists and jailing journalists.

Capital: Nay Pyi Taw is its capital, while the largest city is Yangon, a commercial hub and former capital.

Population: 57.2 million.

Media: The 2021 coup “shattered the media landscape” and the junta, which “tolerates no alternative to its narrative”, quickly banned critical outlets, according to Reporters Without Borders.

A UN official has told the BBC World Service they’ve had reports that Myanmar’s military junta launched air strikes less than an hour after Friday’s earthquake.

The military took control in a 2021 coup, and the country’s been in civil war ever since.

James Rodehaver, who leads the Myanmar team at the UN human rights office, says the military “has long been the primary limiter of humanitarian aid and access” in the country.

He says: “According to reports that we’re receiving on the ground, in under an hour after the earthquake on Friday the military was launching air strikes.

“That was its focus. It was launching air strikes against its own people, including in areas impacted by the earthquake.

“Almost as if they wanted to target the people responding to the people trapped under the rubble.”

He says the attacks, while also asking for international aid, are “part of their bait-and-switch tactic… employed for years”.

An elderly woman has been pulled from the rubble after being trapped for more than 30 hours in the capital, Nay Pyi Taw.

Footage shows her being carried on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance, surrounded by emergency workers.

You can watch the clip below.