The toll from Myanmar's earthquake has continued to rise, as foreign rescue teams and aid rushed into the country, where hospitals are overwhelmed and some communities scrambled to mount rescue efforts with limited resources.
The 7.7-magnitude quake, one of Myanmar's strongest in a century, struck the war-torn southeast Asian nation on Friday, leaving around 1,700 people dead, 3,400 injured and over 300 missing, the military government said.
The junta chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, warned that the number of deaths could go up and his administration faced a challenging situation, state media reported, three days after he made a rare call for international assistance.
Red Cross officials said Myanmar faces a humanitarian crisis and the country's aid needs are increasing by the hour.
India, China and Thailand are among Myanmar's neighbours that have sent relief materials and teams, along with aid and personnel from Malaysia, Singapore and Russia.
But residents in the cities of Mandalay and Sagaing reported that international aid had not arrived as concerns grew about a severe shortage of food, electricity and water.
"The destruction has been extensive and humanitarian needs are growing by the hour," the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in a statement.
"This is not just a disaster; it is a complex humanitarian crisis layered over existing vulnerabilities," Alexander Matheou, regional director for Asia Pacific at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said.
"The magnitude of this disaster is substantial, and the need for support is urgent," he added.
The IFRC has launched an emergency appeal for over $100 million (€92 million) to assist 100,000 people with life-saving relief and early recovery support.
The United States pledged $2 million (€1.8 million) in aid "through Myanmar-based humanitarian assistance organisations" and said in a statement that an emergency response team from USAID, which is undergoing massive cuts under the Trump administration, is deploying to Myanmar.
Ireland announced it would contribute an initial €6 million in aid, with half going to Red Cross organisations and the other half to UN agencies.
The devastation has piled more challenges on Myanmar, already in chaos from a civil war that grew out of a nationwide uprising after a 2021 military coup ousted the elected government of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Critical infrastructure - including bridges, highways, airports and railways - across the country of 55 million lie damaged, slowing humanitarian efforts while the conflict that has battered the economy, displaced over 3.5 million people and debilitated the health system.
The military council has rejected requests from international journalists to cover the devastation, citing the lack of water, electricity and hotels.
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In some areas near the epicentre, residents told Reuters that government assistance was scarce, leaving people to fend for themselves.
"It is necessary to restore the transportation routes as soon as possible," the junta chief told officials yesterday, according to state media.
"It is necessary to fix the railways and also reopen the airports so that rescue operations would be more effective," he added.
The US Geological Service's predictive modelling estimated Myanmar's death toll could eventually top 10,000 and losses could exceed the country's annual economic output.
Hospitals in parts of central and northwestern Myanmar, including the second-biggest city, Mandalay, and the capital Naypyitaw, were struggling to cope with an influx of injured people, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
Ashin Pawara, a monk living in Mandalay, said concrete buildings had become unsafe, forcing people to sleep on the streets and open ground.
Hospital buildings collapsed in the earthquake, leaving patients lying on the ground without proper beds.
"I haven't seen anyone receiving international aid, but local self help groups are donating food, water and snacks," he said.
The earthquake also shook parts of neighbouring Thailand, bringing down an under-construction skyscraper and killing 18 people across the capital, according to Thai authorities.
At least 76 people remained trapped under the debris of the collapsed Bangkok building, where rescue operations continue for a third day, using drones and sniffer dogs to hunt for survivors.
The devastation in some areas of upper Myanmar, such as the town of Sagaing near the quake's epicentre, was extensive, said resident Han Zin.
"What we are seeing here is widespread destruction - many buildings have collapsed into the ground," he said by phone, adding that much of the town had been without electricity since the disaster hit and drinking water was running out.
"We have received no aid, and there are no rescue workers insight," he added.
Sections of a major bridge connecting Sagaing to nearby Mandalay collapsed, satellite imagery showed, with spans of the colonial-era structure submerged in the Irrawaddy River.
"With bridges destroyed, even aid from Mandalay is struggling to get through," Sagaing Federal Unit Hluttaw, a political association linked to the NUG, said on Facebook.
"Food and medicine are unavailable and the rising number of casualties is overwhelming the small local hospital, which lacks the capacity to treat all the patients," it added.
In Mandalay, scores of people were feared trapped under collapsed buildings and most could not be reached or pulled out without heavy machinery, two humanitarian workers and two residents said.
"My teams in Mandalay are using work gloves, ropes and basic kits to dig and retrieve people," said one of the humanitarian workers.
Reuters is not naming them because of security concerns.
"There are countless trapped and still missing. The death toll is impossible to count at the moment due to the number trapped and unidentified, if alive."
A video filmed by a Mandalay resident yesterday and shared with Reuters showed patients in beds, some attached to drips, on the grounds outside a 500-bed orthopaedic hospital in the city.
Public and private health care facilities in Mandalay, including the Mandalay General Hospital and parts of Mandalay Medical University, were damaged by the quake, according to the World Health Organization.
Russian and Indian rescue workers were heading to Mandalay and multiple teams of Chinese, Thai and Singapore rescue personnel have also arrived in the country.
In Bangkok, at the site of the collapsed 33-storey building, rescuers surrounded by shattered concrete piles and twisted metal continued their efforts to rescue dozens of workers trapped under the rubble.
Teerasak Thongmo, a Thai police commander, said his team of policemen and rescue dogs were racing against time to locate survivors, struggling to move around metal debris and sharp edges on an unstable structure.
"Right now, our team is trying to find anyone that might still be alive. Within the first 72 hours, we have to try and save those still alive," he said.
Near the rescue operations, relatives and friends of the missing and trapped construction workers waited for news.
