Death toll in Myanmar earthquake tops 1,700 as officials continue to assess damage

The death toll continues to rise after a deadly earthquake rattled most of Myanmar and Thailand on Friday, with certain areas sustaining the heaviest damages in each country. Along with flattened buildings, many people lost their lives in the 7.7 magnitude quake. As of Sunday night, more than 1,700 people were confirmed dead in Myanmar and the greater Bangkok area, which took the brunt of the earthquake in Thailand.

Another 3,408 people were injured and 139 were missing in Myanmar. In the area around Bangkok, the count rose Sunday to 18 dead, 33 injured and 78 missing, officials said. 

Officials were still assessing the damage and any overall estimate remains incomplete. But two days later, a clearer picture has emerged about the extent of the destruction. As efforts pressed on to search the debris, Myanmar has sought emergency aid from the international community.

Myanmar sits on the major north-south Sagaing Fault, which separates the India and Sunda plates, and the widespread damage runs down a wide swath of the middle of the country. The area includes Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city with 1.5 million people that is located near the earthquake’s epicenter.

Critical infrastructure has been destroyed including the historic Ava Bridge connecting Sagaing and Mandalay, Mandalay University and various heritage sites, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in a statement Sunday.

Little information has come out so far from areas other than the main urban areas of Mandalay city and Naypitaw, and the Red Cross said the airports remain closed in both areas.

Significant damage also has been reported in the Sagaing, Naypyidaw, Magway, Bago and Shan State regions, while telecommunications outages continued to hamper emergency coordination in several regions, the Red Cross said.

Several countries have sent aid to Myanmar in the wake of the earthquake, including teams from India, China, Singapore and Thailand. The British Foreign Office told CBS News that the United Kingdom pledged 10 million pounds, or about $12 million, to help deliver humanitarian aid to the people of Myanmar, focusing support on the hardest-hit areas. The relief efforts are mainly geared toward food, water supplies, medicine and shelter, the British Foreign Office said.

International agencies are also mobilizing support. The Red Cross said it has appealed for more than $100 million to help victims of the earthquake. The humanitarian group said in a statement that it intended to put the funds toward assisting 100,000 people, across 20,000 households, with “relief and early recovery support” over the next 24 months. 

And the World Health Organization dispatched nearly 3 tons of supplies from its emergency stockpile in Yangon, Myanmar, for delivery to hospitals in Mandalay and Naypyidaw, agency spokesperson Christian Lindmeier told CBS News. That was part of a wider effort to rush tents and trauma kits filled with medical supplies to those two hard-hit cities, Lindmeier said.

Agence France-Presse contributed reporting.