BANGKOK — The death toll from last week’s deadly earthquake in Myanmar topped 2,700 on Tuesday, and while a survivor was pulled from the rubble of a building in Bangkok, hope is beginning to fade that more survivors will be found.
Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the head of Myanmar’s military government, said that 2,719 people have now been confirmed as dead in the aftermath of the 7.7 magnitude earthquake, with 4,521 others injured and 441 still missing.
Fire department officials in Naypyitaw said a 63-year-old woman was successfully pulled from a building 91 hours after it collapsed.
Myanmar’s junta has repeatedly shut off the internet in the war-torn country, making it difficult to assess the full extent of the damage. However, a model by the United States Geological Survey roughly estimates that the death toll is likely to top 10,000.
According to a database compiled by the USGS, only three earthquakes measuring 7.7 magnitude or higher on the Richter scale have struck in or near Myanmar in the past century.
About 11 minutes after the initial earthquake, a 6.4-magnitude aftershock struck the same area, according to the USGS.
Myanmar’s fire department said that 403 people were rescued in Mandalay -- the country’s second largest city -- and 259 bodies have been recovered. In one incident, 50 Buddhist monks who were taking a religious exam in a monastery were killed when the building collapsed; 150 others are believed to be buried in the rubble.
“The needs are massive, and they are rising by the hour,” Julia Rees, UNICEF’s deputy representative for Myanmar, told The Associated Press. “The window for lifesaving response is closing. Across the affected areas, families are facing acute shortages of clean water, food, and medical supplies.”
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