The official death toll of the earthquake that shattered central Myanmar surpassed 1,600 people, the country’s military leaders said on Saturday, as desperate rescue workers raced to find survivors and began grappling with a monumental disaster in a nation already racked by civil war.
The powerful earthquake struck on Friday near Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city, and volunteer emergency workers there combed through the ruins of apartments, monasteries and mosques in search of anyone left alive. The quake toppled power lines and caused roads to buckle. Workers lacked equipment like excavators and toiled as the repressive military authorities kept a watchful eye.
“There are at least a hundred people still trapped inside,” said Thaw Zin, a volunteer who was sitting in front of a destroyed condominium. “We are trying our best with what we have.”
The death toll is expected to rise steeply, although Myanmar’s military junta, which overthrew an elected government in 2021, has sought to restrict what information leaves the country. Modeling by the United States Geological Survey suggested the number of deaths will likely surpass 10,000.
The earthquake has raised questions about whether Myanmar’s military rulers can manage to stay in power, having already lost ground to rebels amid a bloody civil war that has left nearly 20 million of the country’s roughly 54 million people without enough food or shelter even before the quake, according to U.N. officials.
