A woman has been rescued from an earthquake-shattered building in Myanmar, 91 hours after becoming encased in rubble.
The 63-year-old was freed early on Tuesday in the capital, Naypyitaw, the city’s fire department said.
It is an unexpected moment of good news in a country where more than 2,700 people have now died following the 7.7 magnitude earthquake on Friday.
In a televised address, Myanmar’s military leader, Min Aung Hlaing, said the number of dead had risen to 2,719 and is expected to exceed 3,000.
Some 4,521 people have been injured, while a further 441 are missing.
More than 10,000 buildings are known to have collapsed or been severely damaged in central and northwest Myanmar, the World Health Organisation said.
In Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, which was close to the quake’s epicentre, 50 children and two teachers were killed when their preschool collapsed, the United Nations said.
People fear aftershocks and are sleeping outside on roads or in open fields, a worker from the International Rescue Committee said.
Communities are struggling to meet basic needs such as access to clean water and sanitation, and emergency teams are working “tirelessly” to locate survivors and provide aid, the UN said in a report.
Rescue efforts are complicated by the civil war in Myanmar after a junta seized power in a coup in 2021.
Rebel groups say the junta has conducted airstrikes even after the quake, while NGOs fear that certain areas could be denied vital supplies.
“Myanmar’s military has a longstanding practice of denying aid to areas where groups who resist it are active,” said Joe Freeman, a researcher with Amnesty Myanmar.
“It must immediately allow unimpeded access to all humanitarian organisations and remove administrative barriers delaying needs assessments.”
People sheltering in a makeshift tent camp in Mandalay. Pic: Reuters
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The quake was the strongest to hit the southeast Asian country in more than a century.
In neighbouring Thailand, rescuers are still scouring the ruins of a collapsed, unfinished skyscraper for any signs of life.
“There are about 70 bodies underneath, and we hope by some miracle one or two are still alive,” volunteer rescue leader Bin Bunluerit said.
Six human-shaped figures have been detected by scanners, said Bangkok’s deputy governor, Tavida Kamolvej.
Thirteen deaths have been confirmed at the building site, with 74 people still missing, while Thailand’s national number of dead stands at 20.
