Death Toll From Myanmar Earthquake Exceeds 3,000 Amid Rescue Difficulties

The death toll from Myanmar’s 7.7-magnitude earthquake has surpassed 3,000, with hundreds more still missing. The earthquake, one of the strongest in Southeast Asia in a century, struck last Friday and impacted 28 million people. It caused widespread destruction, toppling buildings and flattening communities, leaving thousands without food, water, or shelter. The arrival of unseasonal rains is further complicating ongoing rescue and relief efforts.

As of Wednesday, Myanmar’s embassy in Japan reported that the official death toll from the earthquake stands at 3,003, with 4,515 injured and 351 still missing. Rescuers are urgently working to find survivors. The situation is expected to worsen, as unseasonal rains are forecasted from Sunday to April 11, potentially complicating relief efforts in the hardest-hit areas, including Mandalay, Sagaing, and Naypyidaw.

“Rain is incoming, and there are still so many buried. In Mandalay, especially, if it starts to rain, people who are trapped underground will drown even if they have survived until now,” an aid worker in Myanmar warned.

The embassy in Japan reported that 53 airlifts of aid have been sent to Myanmar, with over 1,900 rescue workers from 15 countries, including China, India, Russia, and Southeast Asian neighbors, arriving to assist in relief efforts.

Despite the ongoing crisis, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is scheduled to leave Myanmar on Thursday for a regional summit in Bangkok, a move that has drawn criticism amidst the country’s humanitarian disaster. Min Aung Hlaing remains under Western sanctions and is facing an International Criminal Court investigation.