Myanmar earthquake LIVE: Death toll rises to 1,644, rescue operations continue as aftershocks rattle Mandalay

Myanmar’s neighbours sent warships and aircraft laden with relief materials and rescue personnel, as international aid gained steam after the earthquake.

India, China and Thailand are among the neighbours that have sent relief materials and teams, along with aid and personnel from Malaysia, Singapore and Russia.

Indian military aircraft made multiple sorties into Myanmar yesterday, including ferrying supplies and search-and-rescue crews to Naypyitaw, the purpose-made capital, parts of which have been wrecked by the earthquake.

The Indian Army will help set up a field hospital in Mandalay and two navy ships carrying supplies are heading to Myanmar’s commercial capital of Yangon.

Multiple teams of Chinese rescue personnel have arrived, including one that crossed in overland from its southwestern province of Yunnan, China’s embassy in Myanmar said.

A 78-member team from Singapore, accompanied by rescue dogs, was operating in Mandalay today, Myanmar state-media said.

– Reuters

Anti-coup fighters in Myanmar declared a two-week partial ceasefire as the military began today to facilitate rescue operations and other relief works.

The People’s Defence Force (PDF) will “implement a two-week pause in offensive military operations, except for defensive actions, in earthquake-affected areas starting March 30, 2025”, the shadow “National Unity Government” said in a statement.

The government in exile said it would “collaborate with the UN and NGOs to ensure security, transportation, and the establishment of temporary rescue and medical camps” in areas that it controls, according to the statement, which was released on social media.

– AFP

The death toll in Bangkok from the earthquake rose to 17 today, city authorities said.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Authority said 32 people were injured and 83 still unaccounted for, most from the site of a 30-storey tower block under construction that collapsed when the magnitude 7.7 quake struck on March 28, 2025.

– AFP

The Indian Army HADR team from 50 Para Brigade, comprising 118 personnel, that landed at Nay Pyi Taw airport at midnight local time has identified Mandalay as the primary area of operations. The first reconnaissance party, consisting of one officer and one Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) was inducted into Mandalay at 0840 hours local time, officials said.

The team will commence movement towards Mandalay by 1100 hours. While aerial insertion remains a key mode of deployment, parallel road-based induction is also being explored to establish the Operation Theater (OT) at Mandalay in the shortest possible time, Army officials added.

-Dinakar Peri

Residents scrambled desperately through collapsed buildings Sunday (March 30, 2025) searching for survivors as aftershocks rattled the devastated city of Mandalay, two days after a massive earthquake killed more than 1,600 people in Myanmar and at least 17 in neighbouring Thailand.

The tremors collapsed buildings, downed bridges and buckled roads, with mass destruction seen in the city of more than 1.7 million people.

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