Myanmar and Thailand earthquake live: Death toll soars to almost 700 as dozens trapped under Bangkok skyscraper

The Indian Foreign Ministry said it sent a first part of 15 tonnes of aid to Myanmar.

The help contains tents, blankets, sleeping bags, food parcels, hygiene sets, generators and essential medicines.

The Indian Air Force aircraft ended up in Yangon on Saturday morning.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also expressed concern about the Myanmar and Thailand earthquake.

“Pray for the safety and well -being of everyone. India is ready to offer all possible help. In this regard, we asked authorities to be in standby. Also asked the MEA to stay in contact with the governments of Myanmar and Thailand,” he said, referring to the Foreign Ministry.

Aung San Suu Kyi, the former Myanmar leader who has been detained since the country’s coup in 2021, is safe to the earthquake, reports BBC Burmese services, referring to sources.

The 79-year-old civilian leader was captured by the military in the capital Naypyidaw, although her current location remains unknown.

Cape Diamond, a Myanmar-based journalist who reports under a pseudonym, wrote on X that “Suu Kyi is safe and fine”, referring to the former civilian leader.

It is unlikely to be an official update on her situation, given the lack of information the junta provided during the entire civil war.

China’s President Xi Jinping expanded compassion for Myanmar after Friday’s devastating earthquake, Chinese state media Xinhua and CCTV reported on Saturday.

There was also tremors across the border in the southwestern remote and mountainous Yunnan province in China. Some damage has also been reported in China.

China said earlier it was ready to help with humanitarian aid and sent part of help with rescue workers.

The Foreign Ministry said the country is ready to do its best to provide emergencyhumanitary assistance and support to the earthquake affected by Myanmar.

It is said that it “wants to help people there to carry out disaster help and salvation and by pulling through this difficult time.”

Little aftershocks continued to rock Mandalay, the second largest city of Myanmar, which was the epicenter of the earthquake, overnight and Saturday morning.

Residents in many areas spent the night in the streets and erected their bedding in open areas.

One of the aftershocks measured 6.4 size shortly after the big earthquake on Friday.

At least 694 were killed and 1.670 were injured after a powerful 7.7 earthquake caused devastation in Myanmar.

The death toll is expected to rise as hundreds are trapped in ruins, senior general Min Aung Hlaing said while making a rare appeal to global aid in a television address.

Saturday’s update was a significant increase after the junta reported 144 deaths on Friday.

Bangkok city authorities have revised the number of people who died in Friday’s earthquake to six after initially reporting ten deaths.

At least 22 people were injured, and a search continues for 101 missing people.

The previous death toll late Friday was 10.

Authorities said they lowered the toll because the first respondents had some critical cases at the scene wrong, but when they reached the hospital, they could be re -admitted.

At least two buildings were evacuated in Bangkok overnight, as volunteers have investigated buildings for damage.

Nearly 2000 more should be inspected on Saturday.

Myanmar has indeed faced tragedy for the past 80 years. The leader of his independence movement, Aung San, was killed in 1947, just as he intended to become Burma’s first prime minister after independence, reports Annabel Venning.

When in 1962, just as Burma’s ethnic minority groups were about to get greater autonomy, the army staged a coup, renamed the Land Myanmar, and thus began decades of oppressive military rule that continued today.

Aung San’s daughter, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been jailed by the military since 1989 and in 2020 she led the National League for Democracy (NLD) to the victory of the election, but the military prevented the NLD from taking power. In December 2022, they sentenced Aung San Suu Kyi to 30 years in prison, which was later reduced to 27, under charges of corruption and high treason, which means she will not be released until she is over 100.

It is estimated that 200,000 people died of diseases and hungry in 2008 after the Myanmar military regime refused to allow access to aid agencies in the devastating floods brought by Cyclone Narchist.

Mark Faraner, the director of Burma Campaign UK, says: ‘There is a feeling in Myanmar of:’ Not that, after all we suffered. ”

Allies China and Russia sent rescue teams to Myanmar after being shaken by a powerful earthquake and killed 140 people.

A 37-member team from the China’s Yunnan Province reached the city of Yangon early Saturday, the official news agency Xinhua reported.

The team has carried first aid supplies such as life detectors, earthquake -peases warning systems and drones, and is expected to help with disaster relief and medical treatment efforts.

According to a report from the official Tass News Wire, the Ministry of Emergency in the emergencies sent two aircraft with 120 rescue workers and supplies.

“Based on orders from the Russian President and Emergency Minister, a group of Russian rescue workers left for Myanmar to two aircraft from Zhukovsky airport outside Moscow to help address the aftermath of a powerful earthquake,” a ministry spokeswoman said.

Ireland is ready to help those who have affected the earthquake, said Deputy Prime Minister Simon Harris.

Mr. Harris said at the Curragh in CO Kildare that the thoughts of the people of Ireland are with those affected by the earthquake.

Mr. Harris – who is also the Foreign Minister of Foreign Affairs – said his department was not aware of any Irish citizens affected, but said the embassy in Thailand is available for help.

“My thoughts and I know the thoughts of people across the country are with the people of Myanmar and Thailand after the very important earthquake today,” he said.

“The Irish government is ready to help in any ways we can, and of course we want to fully judge the impact of the earthquake with the UN and other international partners.

“But right now, our hearts go out to the people of that region.”

A rescue worker from the Moe Saydanar charity told Reuters that it captured at least 60 bodies of monasteries and buildings in Pyinmana, near the capital Naypyidaw, and more people.