More than 1,600 people have died after a powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck Myanmar, as desperate families cling onto hope their missing loved ones will still be found alive.

Rescue workers have been working around the clock in the capital of Naypyidaw and Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city, with scores of bodies pulled from the rubble of collapsed buildings.

State television in Myanmar confirmed that 1,644 have died – a sharp rise over the 1,002 total announced just hours earlier, underlining the difficulty of confirming casualties over a widespread region and the likelihood that the numbers will continue to grow.

The number of injured increased to 3,408, while the missing figure rose to 139.

Myanmar is in the throes of a prolonged and bloody civil war, which is already responsible for a massive humanitarian crisis. 

It makes movement around the country both difficult and dangerous, complicating relief efforts and raising fears that the death toll could still rise precipitously.

Although teams and equipment have been flown in from other nations, they are hindered by airports being damaged and apparently unfit to land planes.

A state of emergency has now been declared in six regions and states in Myanmar by the military-run government.

More than 1,600 people have died after a powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck Myanmar on Friday. Pictured: The ruins of the Maha Myat Muni Pagoda in Mandalay

Rescue workers have been working around the clock in Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city, since the disaster struck yesterday

Anguished relatives awaiting news of their loved ones speak on their phones as rescue workers continue to search for missing people

The earthquake struck on Friday at midday with an epicenter close to Mandalay, followed by several aftershocks, including one measuring a strong 6.4 magnitude. 

It sent buildings in many areas toppling to the ground, including the Ma Soe Yane monastery, buckled roads, caused bridges to collapse and burst a dam.

The earthquake also damaged part of the former royal palace and buildings, according to videos and photos released on social media. 

In the Sagaing region, southwest of Mandalay, a 90-year-old bridge collapsed, and some sections of the highway connecting Mandalay and Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon, were damaged. 

Meanwhile in the capital Naypyidaw, crews worked to repair damaged roads, while electricity, phone and internet services remained down for most of the city. 

The earthquake damaged religious shrines, sending parts toppling to the ground, while satellite photos from Planet Labs PBC showed the earthquake toppled the air traffic control tower at Myanmar’s Naypyitaw International Airport. 

The earthquake brought down many buildings, including multiple units that housed government civil servants, but that section of the city was blocked off by authorities on Saturday.

In neighboring Thailand, the quake rocked the greater Bangkok area, home to some 17 million people – many of whom live in high-rise buildings – and other parts of the country.

Den San, 33, a Cambodian migrant worker in Thailand for 18 years, reacts as she waits for an update on her brother, Soeurn Saan, 38, and his wife, who were in a building in Bangkok, Thailand, at the time it collapsed 

Naruemol Thomglek (centre) weeps as she waits for news of missing family members, in Bankgkok, Thailand

The powerful earthquake struck Myanmar and Thailand on Friday, killing more than 1,000 people with scores more still not accounted for

Bangkok city authorities said so far that six people have been found dead, 26 injured and 47 are still missing, most from a construction site near the capital’s popular Chatuchak market.

Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said more people were believed to be alive in the wreckage as search efforts continued on Saturday.

Most of Bangkok’s metro and light rail had resumed operation normally on Saturday morning, according to their operators, although two light rail lines remained closed pending further inspection.

When the quake hit, the 33-story high-rise being built by a Chinese firm for the Thai government wobbled, then came crashing to the ground in a massive plume of dust that sent people screaming and fleeing from the scene.

On Saturday, more heavy equipment was brought in to move tons of rubble, but hope was fading among friends and family members of the missing that they would be found alive.

‘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.

‘I cannot accept this. When I see this I can’t accept this. A close friend of mine is in there, too,’ she said.

Members of the public weep as they wait for news on rescue operations at the site of the Chatuchak skyscraper collapse

People wait at the site of an under-construction building that collapsed in Bangkok, Thailand

The extent of the rubble is shown in this image of the collapsed building following the quake

Rescue workers are using heavy construction equipment to help move the rubble from the site of a collapsed building in Bangkok

A rescue worker sheds tears as he undertakes a search mission for those missing at the site

The high rise building in Bangkok was reduced to a pile of rubble after the earthquake struck

Bangkok city authorities said so far that six people have been found dead, 26 injured and 47 are still missing, most from a construction site near the capital’s popular Chatuchak market

Footage of the moment the skyscraper collapsed after a huge 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit Bangkok on Friday

Waenphet Panta said she had not heard from her daughter Kanlayanee since a phone call about an hour before the quake. 

A friend told her that 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.

Earthquakes are rare in Bangkok, but relatively common in Myanmar. The country sits on the Sagaing Fault, a major north-south fault that separates the India plate and the Sunda plate.

Brian Baptie, a seismologist with the British Geological Survey, said it appears a 125 miles (200km) section of the fault ruptured for just over a minute, with a slip of up to 16.4 feet (5 metres) in places, causing intense ground shaking in an area where most of the population lives in buildings constructed of timber and unreinforced brick masonry.

‘When you have a large earthquake in an area where there are over a million people, many of them living in vulnerable buildings, the consequences can often be disastrous,’ he said in a statement.

‘From initial reports, that seems likely to be the case here.’

Myanmar’s government said blood was in high demand in the hardest-hit areas, especially Mandalay, Sagaing, and Naypyitaw.

He urged blood donors to contact the hospitals as soon as possible.

A survivor walking past a destroyed clock tower near the Ma Soe Yein monastery in Mandalay

Heavy construction equipment is used to dig through the rubble as people look for survivors in a damaged building in Mandalay

The country’s military-led government said in a statement that 1,002 people have now been found dead and another 2,376 injured, with 30 others missing

People desperately climb into a damaged building as they look for survivors in Mandalay

Rescue workers survey the wreckage of the collapsed high-rise building in Bangkok

The earthquake struck on Friday at midday with an epicenter close to Mandalay. Pictured: A relative of the missing anxiously awaits news 

Thai volunteers provide water to rescue workers at the site of a collapsed construction building in Bangkok’s Chatuchak neighborhood

Footage showed a building collapsing in front of monks near the epicentre in Myanmar on Friday

In a country where prior governments sometimes have been slow to accept foreign aid, Min Aung Hlaing said Myanmar was ready to accept outside assistance.

Myanmar’s military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, and is now involved in a bloody civil war with long-established militias and newly formed pro-democracy ones.

Government forces have lost control of much of Myanmar, and many places are incredibly dangerous or simply impossible for aid groups to reach. 

More than 3 million people have been displaced by the fighting and nearly 20 million are in need, according to the United Nations.

‘Although a full picture of the damage is still emerging, most of us have never seen such destruction,’ said Haider Yaqub, Myanmar country director for the NGO Plan International, from Yangon.

‘Without a doubt, the humanitarian needs will be significant.’

Speaking to The Telegraph on Friday, one unnamed doctor said she feared the healthcare system would not be able to cope, saying that they did not have ‘enough medical resources, manpower, emergency preparation and management’.

Meanwhile, Tom Andrews, a UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar told Times Radio that the earthquake could be ‘a disaster on top of disaster’, adding: ‘You’ve got 20 million people in need of humanitarian aid before this earthquake hit. Three and a half internally displaced persons…Half the population falling into poverty…So already you have a very very difficult situation.’

Russian Emergency Ministry employees gather to board one of two planes to Myanmar after it pledged to send rescue teams

Soldiers from the Royal Thai Army with the K-9 Unit for search and recovery at the site of collapsed construction building on March 28, 2025 in Bangkok, Thailand

People stand on a street after the strong earthquake struck central Myanmar on Friday

An earthquake survivor is carried as she waits to receive medical attention at a hospital in Naypyidaw, Myanmar on March 28

A damaged building after an earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar today. The shallow tremor struck central Myanmar at 13.20 local time (6.50GMT), and was followed minutes later by a 6.4-magnitude aftershock

In this image provided by The Myanmar Military True News Information Team, Myanmar’s military leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, center, inspects victims caused by an earthquake Friday

The massive quake, with an epicentre near Mandalay, Myanmar’s second largest city, struck at midday and was followed by a strong 6.4 magnitude aftershock. Pictured: Myanmar’s military leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, center, inspects victims caused by an earthquake Friday

Tuberculosis and HIV patients have been missing their medication for weeks, disabled children have been locked out of rehabilitation centers and rights groups have faced cuts in their ability to distribute food and water to people, Andrews added. 

Myanmar researcher at Amnesty International Joe Freeman said: ‘The earthquake could not have come at a worse time’. 

The disaster happened as a 90-day freeze on foreign assistance programs announced earlier this year by US President Donald Trump led to other cuts in services for refugees from Myanmar, including the shutdown of hospital care in camps in neighbouring Thailand where more than 100,000 are living, according to activists and Thai officials.

A recent statement by the World Food Program said that most food rations currently distributed in Myanmar will be cut off in April, even as the country faces a desperate humanitarian crisis. 

China and Russia, the largest suppliers of weapons to Myanmar’s military, were among the first to step in with humanitarian aid.

A 37-member team from the Chinese province of Yunnan reached the city of Yangon early Saturday with earthquake detectors, drones and other supplies, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Russia’s emergencies ministry dispatched two planes carrying 120 rescuers and supplies, according to a report from the Russian state news agency Tass.

India sent a search and rescue team and a medical team as well as provisions, while Malaysia’s foreign ministry said the country will send 50 people on Sunday to help identify and provide aid to the worst-hit areas.

In this image provided by The Myanmar Military True News Information Team, victims caused by an earthquake is seen compound of government hospital. The US embassy in Thailand said it is suspending ‘non-emergency consular services’ 

Damaged buildings caused by an earthquake is seen Friday, March 28, 2025, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar

People carry an elderly person at the government staff housing following an earthquake in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, 28 March 2025

South Korea announced it would provide $2m worth of humanitarian aid to Myanmar through international organizations to support recovery efforts. 

The Foreign Ministry added that Seoul would closely monitor the situation and consider additional support if needed.

The United Nations allocated $5 million to start relief efforts. 

President Donald Trump said Friday that the US was going to help with the response, but some experts were concerned about this effort given his administration’s deep cuts in foreign assistance.

Friday’s quake has been named as the strongest to hit neighbouring Thailand since the 1839 Ava Earthquake, which the Myanmar Institute of Earth and Planetary Sciences estimates measured up to 8.3 in magnitude.

Thailand was impacted by the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004, which was caused by the third most powerful earthquake ever recorded, with an estimated magnitude of 9.25. 

The gigantic undersea tremor struck off the coast of Indonesia and unleashed a series of catastrophic tsunamis across a dozen countries, which obliterated everything in their path and killed an estimated 230,000 people.

‘The death toll and injuries are expected to rise,’ Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the head of Myanmar’s military government, said in a televised speech on Friday evening. 

Distraught workers are seen at the site of a collapsed building in central Myanmar

A resident looks on next to a collapsed building in Mandalay on March 28, 2025, after an earthquake in central Myanmar

Myanmar’s government says blood is in high demand in the hardest-hit areas

A security official looks at a damaged building at the ThaPyayGone market following an earthquake in Naypyidaw, Myanmar

The total number of fatalities is ‘most likely to be in the range 10,000-100,000’, scientists have warned, citing the United States Geological Survey ‘PAGER’ forecast.

Chelsea King, a British expat living in Bangkok, told MailOnline that she was ushered away from her building by security guards as the initial quake struck.

She said she could see ‘towering skyscrapers…visibly swaying’.

‘Many of these buildings are condos or hotels with rooftop pools, and water was cascading down like waterfalls due to the force of the tremors.

‘The street was chaotic, with people running out of buildings, carrying pets and children, shouting in panic.

‘I was in shock, unable to process what I was seeing – it felt like something out of a disaster film.’

When they were finally allowed back in, she was able to rescue her cat, Mo, and pack a small bag of necessities before escaping down eight flights of stairs.

Chelsea was fortunate that her building ‘appears undamaged’. But she says friends are unable to return to their homes due to structural damage.

Rescuers wait for operations to begin around the Chatuchak skyscraper collapse on March 29, 2025 in Bangkok, Thailand

A rescuer works at the site of a building that collapsed, following a strong earthquake, Bangkok

A woman sleeps in the open at Chatuchak park in Bangkok on March 29, 2025

People sleep in the open at Chatuchak park in Bangkok on March 29

‘My partner, who teaches on the city’s outskirts, is also struggling to get back home, with the BTS and MRT [metro system] shut down and the roads at a standstill.’ 

Kelly Rhodes, a tourist staying at the Okura Prestige in Bangkok, told MailOnline they were evacuated down 24 flights of stairs when the quake struck.

As airlines began to halt some flights, she said: ‘We are now trying to organise flights out but it’s chaos.’

‘We can’t get out of the city. Traffic is at a standstill total gridlock.’

The earthquake was forceful enough to send water sloshing out of pools, some high above the street in high-rises, as the tremor shook.

Witnesses in Bangkok said people ran out onto the streets in panic, many of them hotel guests in bathrobes and swimming costumes as water cascaded down from an elevated pool at a luxury hotel. 

‘All of a sudden the whole building began to move, immediately there was screaming and a lot of panic,’ said Fraser Morton, a tourist from Scotland, who was in one of Bangkok’s many malls shopping for camera equipment.

‘I just started walking calmly at first but then the building started really moving, yeah, a lot of screaming, a lot of panic, people running the wrong way down the escalators, lots of banging and crashing inside the mall.’

Relatives of workers at a high-rise building under construction that collapsed after a strong earthquake wait as rescuers search for victims

People wait at the damaged construction site of a high-rise building

Rescuers search for victims at the site of a high-rise building under construction that collapsed after a strong earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand, early Saturday, March 29, 2025

Like thousands of others in downtown Bangkok, Morton sought refuge in Benjasiri Park – away from the tall buildings all around.

‘I got outside and then looked up at the building and the whole building was moving, dust and debris, it was pretty intense,’ he said. ‘Lots of chaos.’

Mandy Tang, 38, from London, was in a cinema in Bangkok on holiday when she experienced the tremors from the powerful earthquake.

She told the PA news agency: ‘I was watching a film called The Red Envelope. It happened to be quite an action-packed scene when the shake happened, so I initially thought it could have been Imax effect.

‘I looked around and none of the local audience left their seats. However, my Taiwanese friend insisted it’s an earthquake, so I walked out of the theatre with her, and we met the security guards coming to evacuate us just outside the theatre. We could see the doors were opening and closing, all the chairs were shaking.’