The death toll has soared to 694 in Myanmar after a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck the centre of the country on Friday, sending tremors as far as China and Thailand and reducing buildings in the region to rubble.
Bangkok lowered its death toll to six and reported 22 people had been injured, with 101 others missing at sites across the Thai capital.
Myanmar’s ruling military junta said 1,670 people have been injured in the country following Friday’s catastrophic earthquake, which prompted both Thailand and Myanmar to declare a state of emergency.
Ruling military general Min Aung Hlaing warned that more deaths and casualties should be expected.
In Bangkok, which has been declared a disaster area by city authorities, a high-rise building under construction collapsed in a huge plume of dust near the city’s Chatuchak Market.
Dramatic footage circulating on social media showed scenes of panic as the structure crumbled into a cloud of dust and onlookers screamed and ran.
According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the quake had a depth of 6.2 miles and was centred close to Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city. A strong 6.4-magnitude aftershock followed the initial tremor.
Key Points
- Death toll jumps to 694 in Myanmar, military junta says
- Bangkok lowers death toll to six as 101 missing
- At least 144 dead and 737 injured in Myanmar, says state-run TV
- Eight dead and dozens missing following collapse of Bangkok high-rise
- Rescuers ‘digging people out of rubble with our bare hands’ in Myanmar
- Mapped: Where did the Myanmar earthquake strike
- Myanmar: Blood high in demand as military junta declares state of emergency
- Thai PM declares state of emergency
15 tonnes of aid from India arrives in Yangon
04:43
,
Shweta Sharma
The Indian foreign ministry said it has sent a first tranche of 15 tonnes of relief material to Myanmar.
The aid includes tents, blankets, sleeping bags, food packets, hygiene kits, generators, and essential medicines.
The Indian Air Force plane landed in Yangon on Saturday morning.
#OperationBrahma gets underway.
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) March 29, 2025
First tranche of humanitarian aid from India has reached the Yangon Airport in Myanmar.
pic.twitter.com/OmiJLnYTwS
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi also expressed concerns over the earthquake in Myanmar and Thailand.
“Praying for the safety and wellbeing of everyone. India stands ready to offer all possible assistance. In this regard, asked our authorities to be on standby. Also asked the MEA to remain in touch with the governments of Myanmar and Thailand,” he said, referring to Ministry of External Affairs.
Detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi remains safe after earthquake - report
04:34
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Shweta Sharma
Aung San Suu Kyi, the former leader of Myanmar who has been detained since the country's 2021 coup, is safe following the earthquake, BBC Burmese services reported, citing sources.
The 79-year-old civilian leader was imprisoned in the capital Naypyidaw by the military, though her current location remains unknown.
Cape Diamond, a Myanmar-based journalist who reports under a pseudonym, wrote on X that "Suu Kyi is safe and fine", citing a close aide to the former civilian leader.
There is unlikely to be any official update on her situation, given the lack of information provided by the junta throughout the civil war.
China's president Xi Jinping sends condolences to Myanmar's leader after quake
04:10
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Shweta Sharma
China's president Xi Jinping extended condolences to Myanmar's leader after Friday's devastating earthquake, Chinese state media Xinhua and CCTV reported on Saturday.
Tremors were also felt across the border in China’s southwestern remote and mountainous Yunnan province. Some damage was also reported in China.
China earlier said it was ready to help with humanitarian assistance and dispatched a tranche of aid along with rescue workers.
China's foreign ministry said the country stands ready to do its best to provide emergency humanitarian assistance and support to the earthquake-affected area in Myanmar.
It said it wants to "help people there carry out disaster relief and rescue and pull through this trying time."
Tremors continue to rock epicentre Mandalay overnight
03:30
,
Shweta Sharma
Small aftershocks continued to rock Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city, which was the epicentre of the earthquake, overnight and into Saturday morning.
Residents in many areas spent the night in the streets, setting up their bedding in open areas.
One of the aftershocks measured 6.4 magnitude shortly after the major earthquake on Friday.
Death toll jumps to 694 in Myanmar, military junta says
03:25
,
Shweta Sharma
At least 694 have been confirmed dead and 1,670 are injured after a powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake caused devastation across Myanmar.
The death toll was expected to rise as hundreds remained trapped in rubble, senior general Min Aung Hlaing said as he made a rare appeal for global assistance in a televised address.
Saturday's update marked a significant rise after the junta reported 144 deaths on Friday.
Bangkok lowers death toll to six as 101 missing
03:22
,
Shweta Sharma
City authorities in Bangkok have revised the number of people killed in Friday's earthquake down to six after initially reporting 10 deaths.
At least 22 people have been injured, and a search continues for 101 missing people.
The previous death toll late Friday was 10.
Authorities said they lowered the toll because first responders had mistaken some critical cases at the scene as being dead, but when they reached the hospital, they could be resuscitated.
At least two buildings were evacuated overnight in Bangkok as volunteers inspected buildings for damage.
Nearly 2,000 more are to be inspected on Saturday.
‘There's a feeling of: Not this, after everything else that we have suffered’
03:01
,
Andy Gregory
Myanmar has indeed faced tragedy after tragedy in the last 80 years. The leader of its independence movement, Aung San, was assassinated in 1947, just as he was poised to become Burma’s first post-independence prime minister, reports Annabel Venning.
Then in 1962, just as Burma’s ethnic minority groups were about to get greater autonomy, the military staged a coup, renamed the country Myanmar, and so began decades of repressive military rule that continues today.
Aung San’s daughter, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been imprisoned by the military on and off since 1989. In 2020, she led the National League for Democracy (NLD) to election victory but the military prevented the NLD from taking power. In December 2022, they sentenced Aung San Suu Kyi to 30 years in prison, later reduced to 27, under trumped-up charges of corruption and treason, meaning that she will not be released until she is over 100.
An estimated 200,000 people are believed to have died of disease and starvation in 2008 after Myanmar’s military regime refused to allow aid agencies access in the wake devastating floods brought by Cyclone Nargis.
Mark Farmaner, the director of Burma Campaign UK, says: “There’s a feeling in Myanmar of: ‘Not this, after everything else that we have suffered.’”
China and Russia dispatch rescue teams to Myanmar
02:47
,
Shweta Sharma
Allies China and Russia have dispatched rescue teams to Myanmar after it was rocked by a powerful earthquake, killing 140 people.
A 37-member team from China's Yunnan province reached the city of Yangon early Saturday, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
The team carried emergency relief supplies such as life detectors, earthquake early warning systems and drones, and it is expected to assist in disaster relief and medical treatment efforts.
Russia's emergencies ministry dispatched two planes carrying 120 rescuers and supplies, according to a report from the official Tass news wire.
"Based on orders from the Russian president and emergencies minister, a group of Russian rescuers has departed to Myanmar on two planes from Zhukovsky Airport outside Moscow to help address the aftermath of a powerful earthquake," Tass reported that a ministry spokesperson said.
Ireland ‘ready to assist in any way we can’
02:00
,
Andy Gregory
Ireland is ready to assist those affected the earthquake, deputy premier Simon Harris has said.
Speaking at The Curragh in Co Kildare, Mr Harris said that the thoughts of the people of Ireland are with those affected by the quake.
Mr Harris – who is also Ireland’s foreign affairs minister – said his department is not aware of any Irish citizens impacted, but said its embassy in Thailand is available for assistance.
“My thoughts and I know the thoughts of people right around the country are with the people of Myanmar and Thailand after the very significant earthquake today,” he said.
“The Irish Government stands ready to assist in any ways that we can and of course we’re looking to fully assess the impact of that earthquake with the UN and other international partners.
“But right now, our hearts go out to the people of that region.”
Charity says it has received 60 bodies from monasteries and other buildings near Myanmar capital
01:00
,
Andy Gregory
A rescue worker from the Moe Saydanar charity told Reuters it had retrieved at least 60 bodies from monasteries and buildings in Pyinmana, near the capital Naypyidaw, and more people were trapped.
Doubts over whether aid to Myanmar can reach all of those who need it
Friday 28 March 2025 23:59
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Andy Gregory
Annabel Venning reports:
Myanmar is also one of the countries most severely affected by the climate crisis. In 2008, Cyclone Nargis caused devastating floods, as inland tsunamis ripped children from their parents’ arms, and destroyed villages, towns and crops. With 2.4 million in desperate need of aid, the military regime preferred to let the survivors die from disease and starvation than allow aid agencies in.
Convoys were turned back, and much aid was confiscated. We will never know the death toll, but it was estimated at 200,000, many preventable.
Will things be different this time? The regime has – unusually – requested international aid. But simultaneously there are reports that they are taking advantage of the tragedy to bomb Shan State, one of the regions liberated from the regime.
In the past, international aid agencies have routed their aid through Yangon. “The danger is that if they do this, it won’t get to where it’s needed as the government will prevent it from reaching areas it doesn’t control,” warns Mark Farmaner, the director of Burma Campaign UK.
With the military government only in full control of around 20 per cent of the country, even if they are willing to allow international aid in, they will likely be unable to get the aid to the remote regions where it is needed.
Read more in this report.
Trump says US will help Myanmar despite push to close USAID
Friday 28 March 2025 23:02
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Andy Gregory
Speaking at the White House, US president Donald Trump said he had spoken with officials in Myanmar and that his administration would be providing some form of assistance. “We're going to be helping,” he told reporters.
Despite the Trump administration’s push to shut the US Agency for International Development and cut nearly all remaining jobs, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said USAID disaster experts were ready to help, including with items such as food and potable water.
“USAID has maintained a team of disaster experts with the capacity to respond if disaster strikes,” she told a press briefing. “We are ready to move now. There has been no impact on our ability to perform those duties, those requests for aid, if and when they come in.”
In Focus | Why the earthquake could help hasten the fall of Myanmar’s brutal dictator
Friday 28 March 2025 22:33
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Andy Gregory
Author and journalist Annabel Venning, whose family lived in Myanmar for years prior to its rule by a repressive military regime, writes:
There is one glimmer of hope amid tragedy: the military regime is deeply superstitious. The fact that the earthquake happened hours after Armed Forces Day was celebrated may be another blow to the dictator, General Min Aung Hlaing, whose support among even the military is crumbling. Could the earthquake help hasten his fall?
Burma is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. But it is also one of the most benighted. Denied democracy, devastated by natural disaster, its suffering but stoic people surely deserve our support in what may yet be their greatest hour of need.
Major public transport closures in Bangkok following quake
Friday 28 March 2025 22:01
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Andy Gregory
BBC Bangkok has reported that most major public transport systems had closed in the aftermath of the quake, prompting long queues to form outside train stations.
With the SkyTrain and subway both having closed, only buses remained – with roads reportedly badly congested, leaving many people stuck in their offices unable to reach their homes.
Prices on ride-sharing apps are reported to have surged up to four times higher than typical, with available drivers in short supply, the BBC reported.
‘In my lifetime, there was no earthquake like this in Bangkok’
Friday 28 March 2025 21:31
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AP
Voranoot Thirawat, a lawyer working in central Bangkok, said her first indication that something was wrong came when she saw a light swinging back and forth. Then she heard the building creaking, and she and her colleagues fled down 12 flights of stairs.
“In my lifetime, there was no earthquake like this in Bangkok,” she said.
Fraser Morton, a tourist from Scotland, was in one of Bangkok’s many malls when the quake struck.
“All of a sudden, the whole building began to move. Immediately, there was screaming and a lot of panic,” he said. Some people fled down upward-moving escalators, he said.
Earthquake will have left Myanmar 'devastated', aid chief says
Friday 28 March 2025 21:02
,
Andy Gregory
In a country where many people already were struggling, “this disaster will have left people devastated,” Julie Mehigan, who oversees Christian Aid’s work in Asia, the Middle East and Europe, told the Associated Press.
“Even before this heartbreaking earthquake, we know conflict and displacement has left countless people in real need,” Ms Mehigan said.
Rescuers ‘digging people out of rubble with our bare hands’
Friday 28 March 2025 20:27
,
Andy Gregory
A rescue volunteer in the Mandalay area has told the BBC that his makeshift team of ordinary citizens are “digging people out with our bare hands” following the devastating earthquake.
Warning that the team need machinery to reach people trapped under the rubble, he said: “We are digging out people with our bare hands. It is not enough to get the bodies and people out who are trapped under the rubble.”
He added: “People are screaming: ‘Help me, help me.’ I feel so hopeless.”
Another rescue worker in the Naypyitaw area whose team earlier pulled two people from a goldsmith’s shop where 17 people were believed to remain trapped told the BBC: “We can only find people where we can hear them.”
Moment building collapses as Myanmar earthquake tremors hit Bangkok
Friday 28 March 2025 19:49
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Andy Gregory
Five cities and towns have seen buildings collapse, Myanmar state media reports
Friday 28 March 2025 19:20
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Andy Gregory
According to Myanmar's English-language state newspaper, Global New Light of Myanmar, five cities and towns have seen buildings collapse and two bridges have fallen, including one on a key highway between Mandalay.
Dam reported to have burst in Mandalay
Friday 28 March 2025 18:54
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Andy Gregory
The Associated Press has cited Christian Aid as saying that its partners and colleagues on the ground reported that a dam burst in Mandalay, causing water levels to rise in the lowland areas.
UN allocates $5m from emergency relief fund
Friday 28 March 2025 18:36
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Andy Gregory
The UN’s emergency relief coordinator has made an initial allocation of $5m for recovery efforts in southeast Asia as the international body works to recover from massive US funding cuts to the region.
International and local UN staff are working to gather information on the number of people impacted, damage to infrastructure and the scope of the humanitarian needs, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters.
“The earthquake will compound an already dire humanitarian situation in Myanmar, where nearly 20 million people need assistance across the country, including more than 3.5 million people displaced from their homes,” Mr Dujarric was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
Mapped: The regions hit worst by 7.7-magnitude earthquake in Myanmar and Thailand
Friday 28 March 2025 18:18
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Andy Gregory
In the below report, my colleague Alisha Rahaman Sarkar maps out the areas affected by the earthquake:
Thirty bodies recovered from collapsed apartment blocks in ancient Mandalay township, rescue worker says
Friday 28 March 2025 18:01
,
Andy Gregory
A rescue worker from Amarapura, an ancient city and now a township of Mandalay, has told Reuters that the bodies of 30 people had been recovered from collapsed multi-story apartment blocks.
“I have never experienced anything like this before – our town looks like a collapsed city," he told the news agency, estimating that about a fifth of the buildings had been destroyed.
“We received calls for help from people from the inside, but we cannot help because we do not have enough manpower and machines to remove the debris, but we will not stop working.”
Video report: 7.7 magnitude earthquake hits Myanmar, toppling buildings in Bangkok 1,300km away
Friday 28 March 2025 17:45
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Andy Gregory
Millions already internally displaced in Myanmar prior to quake
Friday 28 March 2025 17:29
,
AP
Before the quake struck, the United Nations estimated that hundreds of thousands of civilians had been displaced by internal fighting, and there are now more than 3 million internally displaced people in Myanmar overall, with some 18.6 million people in need of humanitarian aid.
However, access issues and recent cuts to foreign assistance have devastated the already war-torn country. A 90-day freeze on foreign assistance programs announced earlier this year by US president Donald Trump has 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.
US experts estimate that fatalities in Myanmar could exceed 10,000
Friday 28 March 2025 17:14
,
Andy Gregory
The US Geological Survey’s (USGS) earthquake hazards programme has suggested that fatalities could be between 10,000 and 100,000 people, and the economic impact could be as high as 70 per cent of Myanmar's GDP.
According to Dr Roger Musson, an honorary research fellow at the British Geological Survey, such forecasts are based on data from past earthquakes and on Myanmar's size, location and overall quake readiness.
Speaking to Reuters, Dr Musson said that the shallow depth of the quake – at just 6.2 miles, according to the USGS – meant the damage would be more severe: “This is very damaging because it has occurred at a shallow depth, so the shockwaves are not dissipated as they go from the focus of the earthquake up to the surface. The buildings received the full force of the shaking.”
He added: “It's important not to be focused on epicentres because the seismic waves don't radiate out from the epicentre – they radiate out from the whole line of the fault.”
Noting that the last major quake to hit the region was in 1956, Dr Musson said that homes in central Myanmar are unlikely to have been built to withstand seismic forces as powerful as those that hit on Friday.
Rescue workers continue search for survivors into the night in Bangkok
Friday 28 March 2025 17:14
,
Andy Gregory
As darkness fell in Bangkok, rescue workers continued to search for survivors in the rubble of a collapsed building, where scores of people were still feared missing.
Tremors cause damage and casualties in southern China, reports claim
Friday 28 March 2025 16:59
,
Andy Gregory
According to Chinese media reports, the earthquake was also felt in China’s Yunnan and Sichuan provinces, and caused damage and injuries in the city of Ruili – which sits on the border with Myanmar.
Footage reported to have been captured in Ruili showed building debris littering a street and a person being wheeled in a stretcher toward an ambulance.
The shaking in Mangshi, a Chinese city some 60 miles northeast of Ruili, was so strong that people couldn't stand, one resident told The Paper, an online media outlet.
Ten dead, 16 injured and 101 missing at three construction sites in Bangkok, authorities say
Friday 28 March 2025 16:45
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Andy Gregory
In Thailand, Bangkok city authorities have said that 10 people have been killed, 16 injured and 101 missing from three construction sites, including the high-rise responsible for at least eight of the confirmed deaths.
Myanmar capital’s 1,000-bed hospital damaged in quake, state media says
Friday 28 March 2025 16:31
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Andy Gregory
A 1,000-bed hospital in Myanmar’s capital Nyapyitaw was among the buildings that sustained damage from the earthquake, according to state media.
Agence France-Presse earlier reported that rows of people injured in the quake lay outside the hospital’s emergency department as a stream of casualties were brought there on Friday. The entrance to the emergency area itself was heavily damaged, and a car could reportedly be seen crushed under the concrete of the collapsed entrance.
Watch: Rooftop pool spills over side of skyscraper as Bangkok hit by earthquake tremors
Friday 28 March 2025 16:20
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Alex Croft
In pictures: Huge cracks in Myanmar roads
Friday 28 March 2025 16:07
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Alex Croft
'Rush of blood to the head': Scottish PR consultant recalls moment earthquake struck
Friday 28 March 2025 15:55
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Alex Croft
Alex MacGregor, a PR consultant who has been living in the Thai capital for the last six months, was working from home and waiting for the delivery of his lunch when the tremors began at around 1.30pm local time.
“I was just waiting for the driver to come with my food and I look in the pool and noticed the water started to kind of lap at the edges… but then it started to get violent,” the 36-year-old, originally from Inverness, told the PA news agency.
“All of a sudden I started feeling faint, like that kind of blood rushing to the head feeling, and I was like: ‘Am I ill here, or what’s going on?’
“Then I looked up the other condo, which is a really high skyscraper and I saw their pool water coming over the sides and that’s when I knew it was an earthquake.
“It’s a weird sensation, you’re seeing a lot of things happen in slow motion around you… I actually went and sat down because I was feeling unsteady on my feet.”
Mr MacGregor said the atmosphere was “remarkably calm” as people evacuated his building. “The Thai people are really friendly people, very chill – the last people that are going to panic in this kind of situation.”
Is it safe to travel to Thailand and is Bangkok airport open? Advice for tourists after Myanmar earthquake
Friday 28 March 2025 15:44
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Alex Croft
The Thai Department of Disaster Prevention said the quake was felt in almost all parts of the country.
Cities like Bangkok and Chiang Mai attract huge numbers of tourists every year to its breathtaking landscapes, cultural landmarks and luxury hotels, while its coast and islands are often touted as home to some of the most beautiful beaches in the world.
Travel writer Amelia Neath reveals all you need to know about the recent earthquake, its impacts and the latest travel advice.
Summary: What has happened so far?
Friday 28 March 2025 15:31
,
Alex Croft
Here’s a summary of the days events following the devastating earthquake in Myanmar.
- A huge 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck central Myanmar at around midday, with tremors and spreading as far as Bangkok.
- State of emergencies were declared by authorities in Thailand and Myanmar. Bangkok, Thailand’s capital, was later declared a disaster area.
- At least 153 have been confirmed dead in the region. Nine people are dead in Bangkok, the city’s governor Chadchart Sittipun said. Myanmar’s military junta announced that 144 people were dead and 732 injured in the region. The numbers are steadily rising.
- A huge rescue effort for 117 missing people is underway in Bangkok after a high-rise building, which was still under construction, collapsed in catastrophic scenes after the earthquake. Eight of the nine people confirmed dead in Bangkok were found at this site.
- Humanitarian organisations have called on Myanmar to allow unfettered aid into the region. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch both noted the ruling military junta’s history of denying aid.
- The death toll may rise into the thousands, a US government predictive analysis has found based on the strength and depth of the earthquake.
- Blood is in high demand in Myanmar, military government spokesperson Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun said. He called on blood donors to contact hospitals as soon as possible.
- Fears are mounting over the scale of infrastructural damage in Myanmar. Roads, hospitals, bridges and buildings have all collapsed - and the Red Cross has expressed fears about the stability of major dams in the region.
At least nine dead in Bangkok after earthquake, including eight under skyscraper
Friday 28 March 2025 15:16
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Alex Croft
At least nine people have died in Bangkok as a result of Friday's earthquake, a Thai official has told Reuters.
The death toll us steadily rising in Thailand as well as in neighbouring Myanmar, where the quake was centred.
Of the confirmed casualties in the Thai capital, eight died when a building under construction collapsed, while the ninth person died in a different location, said Bangkok's Deputy Governor Tavida Kamolvej.
Thousands of deaths possible, says US government analysis of earthquake
Friday 28 March 2025 15:06
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Alex Croft
There could be thousands of deaths and severe economic damage following the massive earthquake in Myanmar, a US government predictive analysis has found.
The conclusions were based on the strength and depth of Friday’s earthquake, with the Sagaing and Meiktila regions worst hit.
"Overall, the population in this region resides in structures that are vulnerable to earthquake shaking, though resistant structures exist," the analysis said.
"High casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread," it said.
Myanmar's military junta calls for help from international community
Friday 28 March 2025 14:59
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Alex Croft
Myanmar’s ruling military general called for “any country” to provide help and donations to the country, following the devastating earthquake which killed at least 144 people.
There will be more deaths and casualties, Min Aung Hlaing said on state television.
Routes have been opened for international assistance and offers of help from India and southeast Asian bloc ASEAN have been accepted, Mr Hlaing said.
At least 144 dead and 737 injured in Myanmar, says state-run TV
Friday 28 March 2025 14:46
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Alex Croft
At least 144 people in Myanmar have been killed in Myanmar following the devastating 7.7-magnitude earthquake earlier on Friday, state-run TV has reported.
Another 732 have been injured, MRTV announced on Telegram.
Casualty figures have been slow to emerge in Myanmar and Thailand as rescuers scramble to find survivors under the rubble of buildings destroyed by the quake.
Eight dead and 117 missing following collapse of Bangkok high-rise
Friday 28 March 2025 14:43
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Alex Croft
The number of people missing following the collapse of a high-rise building in Bangkok has been revised to 117, Thai rescuers said on Friday.
Eight people are confirmed dead in the collapse, rescuers said, an increase on the three earlier reported.
Watch: Moment building collapses as Myanmar earthquake tremors hit Bangkok
Friday 28 March 2025 14:35
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Alex Croft
Hospital patients treated in the streets of Bangkok
Friday 28 March 2025 14:02
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Barney Davis
Patients are evacuated onto a road outside a hospital after shockwaves from the 7.7 magnitude earthquake spread to Bangkok.
