Myanmar quake toll crosses 2,000

Mandalay/Bangkok: The death toll from the 7.7 magnitude earthquake, which struck Myanmar on March 28, crossed the 2,000-mark and over 3,900 people were injured. Rescuers were racing against time to search for more survivors three days after the temblor, the ruling junta said on Monday.

Rescuers continued to scramble through the debris of collapsed buildings as the junta declared a week of national mourning in honour of those who died in the shallow 7.7 magnitude earthquake in the country.

Officials said that a woman was pulled out of the rubble of a hotel, a glimmer of hope three days after the temblor occurred as rescuers raced against time to find more survivors.

The woman was pulled from the rubble of the Great Wall Hotel in Mandalay, the Chinese embassy in Myanmar said in a Facebook post, adding she was reported to be in a stable condition.

Mandalay is near the epicentre of the 7.7-magnitude earthquake on Friday that wreaked mass devastation in Myanmar and damage in neighbouring Thailand, including its capital Bangkok.

In Bangkok, emergency crews on Monday resumed a desperate search for 76 people believed buried under the rubble of an under-construction skyscraper that collapsed, according to reports. After nearly three days, fears were growing that the rescuers would find more dead bodies, which could sharply raise Thailand's death toll, which stood at 18 on Sunday.

Several countries, including India and international organisations, such as the UN, have rushed tonnes of relief supplies to an estimated 23,000 quake-hit survivors in Myanmar, already in chaos due to a civil war.

The conflict grew out of a nationwide uprising after a 2021 military coup ousted the elected government of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Earlier, Tun Kyi, a member of the steering committee of the Spring Revolution Myanmar Muslim Network, said over 700 worshippers were killed when the earthquake struck during the Friday prayers amid Ramzan. The member also said some 60 mosques were destroyed in the temblor.