Rescuers are desperately searching for survivors more than two days after a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck Myanmar, toppling buildings as far away as the Thai capital Bangkok and sending tremors through nearby Chinese provinces.

At least 1,700 people are now confirmed dead in Myanmar after what was the largest earthquake to hit the war-ravaged country in more than a century, authorities say. Experts fear the true death toll could take weeks to emerge.

Widespread damage has been reported after the quake caused bridges and buildings to collapse, including in Bangkok, where authorities are trying to free dozens believed to be trapped under the rubble of an under-construction high-rise.

The epicenter was recorded in Myanmar’s central Sagaing region, near the former royal capital Mandalay, home to around 1.5 million people, as well as multiple historic temple complexes and palaces. Those at the epicenter of the quake are largely cut off following the collapse of a key bridge over the country’s Irrawaddy River, according to local officials.

Meanwhile, foreign aid and international rescue teams have started arriving in Myanmar after the military junta issued a rare plea for help.

Friday’s quake was the deadliest natural disaster to hit the country in years and comes as Myanmar reels from a civil war that since 2021 has damaged communication networks, battered health infrastructure and left millions without adequate food and shelter.

Here’s what we know.

A woman is rescued from the rubble of a collapsed condo building in Mandalay Saturday, before being transported to a hospital. Sai Aung Main/AFP/Getty Images

Massive human toll

At least 1,700 people are dead and around 3,400 injured, according to the country’s military government. Nearly 300 others remain missing.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) estimated that the final death toll could surpass 10,000 people, based on early modeling.

In Bangkok, hundreds of miles from the epicenter, at least 18 people were killed. Of these, 11 died when an under-construction building collapsed in minutes, leaving dozens trapped under the rubble. Seven fatalities were reported elsewhere in the capital, authorities said.

Search and rescue operations are ongoing in Bangkok for around 80 people who remain missing, as families gather at the site of the collapsed high-rise for any news of their loved ones.

The earthquake was the most powerful to strike Myanmar since it was rocked by a 7.9-magnitude temblor in 1912 in Taunggyi, a city also in central Myanmar.

Aftershocks, the largest of which was a 6.7-magnitude tremor Friday, have continued throughout the weekend, according to the USGS.

Rescuers work at the site of a damaged building in Mandalay, Myanmar, on Sunday, March 30.

Reuters

Deadly earthquake strikes Myanmar, Thailand and China

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Widespread devastation

The level of devastation wreaked on the country “hasn’t been seen in over a century in Asia,” according to an official from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

The impact of the earthquake will be felt “for the next few weeks,” Marie Manrique, Myanmar program coordinator for the IFRC, told CNN’s Lynda Kinkade, suggesting that the numbers of deaths and injuries were likely to rise as some people were still trapped under collapsed buildings.

Speaking from Yangon, Manrique added that there was now just a “small window of opportunity” to reach those people.

One woman in Mandalay recalled: “It hit very strong and very fast.” Part of a wall collapsed onto the woman’s grandmother who was sitting nearby, burying her legs in rubble and debris, she said.

A former lawyer in the city also told CNN that three members of his wife’s family had been killed in the quake.

The quake also shattered some of the city’s mosques, which were busy with worshippers attending Friday prayers, one man said.

Since the quake struck, communication has been difficult with people in Myanmar, including Mandalay – making it hard to assess the true extent of the damage.

Save the Children, an NGO providing aid in affected areas, relayed the testimony of a father in the badly hit eastern Shan state.

“Children and the elderly experienced severe dizziness and fainting… The earthquake was incredibly strong, and we were all in shock. Young children cried and screamed in fear ,” he said, adding that there was now an urgent need for food and water.

Inwa Bridge in Mandalay, Myanmar. Maxar Technologies

In the south, the townships of Nyaungshwe, Kalaw and Pinlaung are among the hardest-hit by the earthquake, according to the United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

“Thousands of people are spending the nights on the streets or (in) open spaces due to the damage and destruction to homes or fearing further quakes,” the agency said Saturday.

In Naypyidaw, the country’s military capital 160 miles (257 kilometers) south of Mandalay, a three-story hospital partially collapsed, trapping patients beneath the rubble, Chinese state media said. Some 40 hours after the quake, China’s rescue team rescued one person from the debris.

As of Sunday, nearly 1,700 houses, 670 monasteries, 60 schools and three bridges were reported to be damaged, and there are concerns for the structural integrity of large dams, OCHA said. It also noted damage to hospitals, universities, and historical and public buildings.

The bridge over the mighty Irrawaddy River near Mandalay was destroyed, with nearly every section of the bridge fully or partially collapsed into the water.

Po Po, a teacher in Sagaing City, told CNN: “The old Sagaing bridge is destroyed and the new one is no longer usable, making it difficult for aid to come from other cities.”

Teams have rescued 36 survivors from collapsed buildings across the Sagaing region as of Sunday.

“Bodies are still trapped under the debris, and those that have been recovered remain unburied, spreading a foul odor that poses serious health risks,” read a statement from Sagaing Federal Unit Hluttaw, the anti-regime authority.

Chinese rescue team members, in blue, search for victims trapped in the rubble of a damaged temple in Mandalay Saturday. Sai Aung Main/AFP/Getty Images

Foreign aid

Several countries have deployed resources to assist in rescue and relief operations after Myanmar’s military leaders, normally averse to foreign involvement, asked for help.

A team from China was the first to reach Myanmar’s biggest city Yangon Saturday, China’s state broadcaster CCTV said, as Beijing pledged $13.8 million in humanitarian assistance.

Russia was quick to follow China in deploying its own team of specialists, including dog teams, anesthesiologists and psychologists, the country’s emergencies ministry said.

The United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia will donate aid packages totaling more than $20 million in humanitarian assistance.

US President Donald Trump described the quake as “terrible” and vowed that the United States would also send assistance. India, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong have also announced they would send help.

The UN announced an immediate pledge of $5 million in aid for Myanmar and said it was mobilizing teams for the relief effort.

However, rescue teams face a daunting task after infrastructure weakened by Myanmar’s civil war was further damaged by the quake. Efforts are also likely to be complicated as the quake’s impact zone includes areas that have seen intense fighting since the junta seized power in 2021 and where competing administrations – the military government and rebel groups – operate separately.

Aid groups say wrecked roads, rubble and communication blackouts are impeding relief efforts, according to the UN. Severe shortages of medical supplies – including trauma kits, blood bags, anesthetics and assistive devices – have also complicated relief efforts, OCHA said Saturday.

Health workers on the ground are struggling to field streams of injured people, according to OCHA.

The IFRC has launched an emergency appeal for 100 million Swiss francs ($113 million) to provide relief in Myanmar over the next two years.

“The need for support is urgent,” Alexander Matheou, regional director for Asia-Pacific at the IFRC, said in a press release Sunday. “This is not just a disaster; it is a complex humanitarian crisis layered over existing vulnerabilities.”

Buddhist monks walk past a collapsed building in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, Saturday. Aung Shine Oo/AP

Why was this earthquake so destructive?

Myanmar is on an active earthquake belt, but many of the temblors usually happen in sparsely populated areas, not cities like those affected Friday.

The USGS and Germany’s GFZ center for geosciences said the earthquake was a shallow 10 kilometers (6.2 miles). Shallower earthquakes tend to cause more damage.

The energy released by the quake was the equivalent of 334 atomic bombs, a geologist told CNN, warning that aftershocks could be felt for months.

Scientists say the quake occurred along the Sagaing fault, which runs north-south through Myanmar, and that it is a “strike-slip” fault, when two tectonic plates shift mostly horizontally.

Brian Baptie, seismologist with the British Geological Survey, said the rupture moved the earth five meters (16.4 feet) over about a minute in some areas.

Because most of the buildings in the area are made from timber or unreinforced brick masonry, he said, they are highly vulnerable to quake damage.