Myanmar and Thailand earthquake live: race to find survivors as huge rise in death toll confirmed | Myanmar

It has gone 3.15pm in Mandalay, Myanmar, and 3.45pm in Bangkok, Thailand. Here is what we know so far about Friday’s huge earthquake that hit Myanmar and its devastating effects:

• The death toll in Myanmar has reached more than 1,000, as rescuers dig through the rubble of collapsed buildings in a desperate search for survivors. The ruling junta said in a statement on Saturday 1,002 people had been confirmed dead and 2,376 injured, with most of the dead in Mandalay. The statement suggested the numbers could still rise, saying “detailed figures are still being collected.”

• The shallow 7.7-magnitude quake struck northwest of the city of Sagaing in central Myanmar in the early afternoon on Friday, followed minutes later by a 6.7-magnitude aftershock. The quake destroyed buildings, downed bridges, and buckled roads across swathes of Myanmar, with severe damage reported in the second biggest city, Mandalay.

• Myanmar declared a state of emergency across the six worst-affected regions after the quake, and at one major hospital in the capital, Naypyidaw, medics were forced to treat the wounded in the open air.

• In neighbouring Thailand, which also felt tremors, Bangkok city authorities said so far six people had been found dead, 26 injured and 47 were still missing, most from a construction site near the capital’s popular Chatuchak market, where a high-rise building collapsed. Earlier statements had said 10 were confirmed dead and about 100 missing.

• Bangkok city authorities said they will deploy more than 100 engineers to inspect buildings for safety after receiving over 2,000 reports of damage.

• It was the biggest quake to hit Myanmar in over a century, according to US geologists, and the tremors were powerful enough to severely damage buildings across Bangkok, hundreds of kilometres (miles) away from the epicentre.

• In Myanmar, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing issued an exceptionally rare appeal for international aid, indicating the severity of the calamity. Previous military regimes have shunned foreign assistance even after major natural disasters.

• The United Nations allocated $5m to start relief efforts. President Donald Trump said on Friday that the US was going to help with the response, but some experts were concerned about this effort given his administration’s deep cuts in foreign assistance.

• A 37-member team from the Chinese province of Yunnan reached the city of Yangon early on Saturday with earthquake detectors, drones and other supplies, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Chinese President Xi Jinping had spoken to Min Aung Hlaing, the Chinese embassy said, while state media reported he had “expressed deep sorrow” over the destruction.

• Russia’s emergencies ministry have dispatched two planes carrying 120 rescuers and supplies to the region, according to a report from the Russian state news agency Tass.

• India, France and the European Union offered to provide assistance, while the WHO said it was mobilising to prepare trauma injury supplies. India said it had sent a search and rescue team and a medical team as well as provisions, while Malaysia’s foreign ministry said the country would send 50 people on Sunday to help identify and provide aid to the worst-hit areas.