Residents scoured collapsed buildings searching for survivors as aftershocks rattled the devastated city of Mandalay, two days after a massive earthquake killed at least 1,700 people in Myanmar and at least 17 in neighbouring Thailand.

The initial 7.7-magnitude quake struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a 6.7-magnitude aftershock.

Tea shop owner Win Lwin picked his way through the remains of a collapsed restaurant on a main road in his neighbourhood early yesterday, tossing bricks aside one by one.

“About seven people died here when the quake struck,” he said. “I’m looking for more bodies but I know there cannot be any survivors.

“We don’t know how many bodies there could be but we are looking.”

About an hour later, a small aftershock struck, sending people scurrying out of a hotel for safety, following a similar tremor felt late Saturday evening.

And around 2pm, another aftershock – of 5.1-magnitude according to the US Geological Survey – sent people into the streets in alarm once again, temporarily halting rescue work.

The night before, rescuers had pulled a woman out alive from the wreckage of a collapsed apartment building, with applause ringing out as she was carried by stretcher to an ambulance.

Myanmar’s ruling junta said in a statement yesterday that about 1,700 people have been confirmed dead so far, 3,400 injured, and around 300 more are missing.

But the true scale of the disaster remains unclear in the isolated military-ruled state, and the toll is expected to rise significantly.

At a destroyed Buddhist examination hall in Mandalay, Myanmar and Chinese responders worked to find buried victims yesterday.

A coordinator on the site said more than 180 monks were sitting an exam inside when the quake struck and collapsed a whole section of the building.

So far, 21 people have been rescued while 13 bodies have been recovered, but at least two more people were still believed alive in the rubble, rescuers said.

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing issued an exceptionally rare appeal for international aid on Friday, indicating the severity of the calamity.

Previous military governments have shunned foreign assistance, even after major natural disasters.

Myanmar has already been ravaged by four years of civil war sparked by a military coup in 2021.

Anti-junta fighters in the country have declared a two-week partial ceasefire in quake-affected regions starting yesterday, the shadow “National Unity Government” said in a statement.

The UN said overnight that a severe lack of medical equipment is hindering Myanmar’s response to the quake, while aid agencies have warned that the country is unprepared to deal with a disaster of this magnitude. — AFP