The official death toll from March 28’s devastating earthquake in Myanmar has soared to beyond 1,700 and was expected to climb much higher as rescue teams struggled to cope with the tens of thousands of people left injured, homeless and buried under rubble.

By March 30 the true extent of the shocking carnage had begun to emerge in the Sagaing-Mandalay region where the first quake struck early afternoon March 28, collapsing tall buildings and bridges and opening up gaping holes in the earth’s surface.

The United States Geological Survey, which measured the initial 7.7 quake and a second 12 minutes later at 6.4, said the death toll could exceed 10,000, as aftershocks of up to 5.1 continued to strike the region over the weekend.

Officials from the ruling junta and the National Unity Government (NUG) in exile both appealed for international humanitarian aid. The NUG also announced a partial ceasefire amid a four year bloody civil war but accused the junta of bombing civilians in quake devastated zones.

NUG Acting President Duwa Lashi La “strongly and unequivocally” condemned the bombings after the worst earthquake to strike Myanmar in 186 years, saying: “I can’t help but ask: can’t they, even just once, show a trace of humanity?”

A source with the People’s Defence Force (PDF) — an armed wing of the NUG — said northern Shan state was targeted for air force bombardments on March 29 then Magway in central Myanmar.

“The bombing hasn’t stopped, Sunday morning the junta bombed Magway. We are feeling the aftershocks of a major earthquake. People are digging trapped victims out of the rubble with their bare hands and the military is bombing,” she said. “I should be surprised but I’m not.”

The military council said the official toll had reached 1,700 people dead, 3,400 injured and more than 300 missing late on March 30 and had rejected requests from international journalists to enter the country due to a lack of water, electricity and hotel space.

Junta leader Gen. Min Aug Hlaing — who this week was expected to make his first diplomatic appearance at an ASEAN conference in four years, in Bangkok — also warned the death toll could go much higher, but has said little else. Nor has he commented on the air strikes.

International response

Pope Francis led prayer services for the victims and Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, sent a message on the pope’s behalf saying the pontiff was “deeply saddened by the loss of life and widespread devastation caused by the earthquake in Southeast Asia.”

“His Holiness Pope Francis offers heartfelt prayers for the souls of the deceased and the assurance of his spiritual closeness to all affected by this tragedy,” Parolin said as the first rescue and medical teams began arriving in Myanmar.

ASEAN said it will deploy its Emergency Response and Assessment Team. China, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Canada and the United States also dispatched emergency search and rescue teams as India sent its first batch of aid to the military.

The United Nations secretary-general allocated an initial US$5 million to enable emergency responses. The European Union, Britain and Australia said they would provide immediate multi-million-dollar packages as aid agencies, including Caritas, launched a centralized appeal. 

An appeal by International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) intends to raise more than $100 million to assist 100,000 people in early recovery support and the World Health Organization has dispatched nearly three tons of supplies to hospitals in Mandalay and Naypyidaw.

Much of the Western funding is being directed through the ICRC. A message sent by Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong was frank and perhaps best summed up the attitudes of many foreign governments when dealing with the junta.

“Australia does not provide any direct funding to the military regime and takes proactive steps to ensure our assistance does not legitimize the military regime in Myanmar,” she said.

The junta controls just 15 percent of Myanmar, mostly around central Barmar state and the capital Naypyidaw after suffering 18 months of heavy losses on the battlefield to the EAOs and PDF which holds about 45 percent for the country with the balance still being fought over.

In Central Myanmar

The NUG, which claims militia support from 20 Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs) and the PDF, said at least 13,411 buildings, 43 major bridges, five dams, 157 pagodas and 52 mosques were badly damaged or destroyed.

Mandalay, where 1.5 million people live, Sagaing and Naypyidaw were among the worst hit by the quake – which was felt as far away as China while buildings swayed and collapsed in Bangkok and were evacuated in Hanoi, Vientiane and Phnom Penh.

With aftershocks taking place over the weekend and into March 31, people living in the old capital of Mandalay, known as the seat of kings, were too scared to remain indoors, sleeping outside on the streets after entire city blocks imploded.

The historic Ava Bridge connecting Sagaing and Mandalay was also destroyed along with other critical infrastructure including airport buildings in Mandalay and Naypyidaw, where the control tower collapsed. Electricity, water and internet connections remained cut.

Concerns regarding the 11th-13th century UNESCO listed temples in Bagan and potential damage to the 770km oil and gas pipeline that stretches across the country into China have also been raised but reports out of both areas have been scant.

Bangkok a ‘disaster zone’

In Thailand the death toll rose to 18 and 83 were still missing with most of the victims buried under what was to be the State Audit Office building in Bangkok’s Chatuchak district, which collapsed in a huge plume of dust due to “an unstable structure,” the fire department said.

On the morning of March 31 Bangkok’s complex web of overhead motorways and mass rapid transit systems had resumed normal operations but some disruptions were expected on the underground rail network as investigations were launched.

Authorities also said there were 700 cases of structural damage to buildings that were under review but added that condominiums built since 2007 remained safe and declared the “disaster zone” under control.

However, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said she was disappointed by government agencies for failing to alert the public to the earthquake in a timely manner, through an early warning SMS system established for such crises.

She singled out the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission and the Public Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department for their tardiness, given the first messages were sent at 2:20pm an hour after the quake and to just 200,000 people.

“The problem is that it took far too long for these text messages to reach people, not everyone received them, and the information provided was not particularly useful,” she told reporters.