Hopes fade of finding more quake survivors with death toll tipped to soar

Hopes were fading Monday of finding more survivors in the rubble of Mandalay, where some residents spent a third night sleeping in the open after a massive earthquake killed at least 1700 people in Myanmar and neighbouring Thailand.

Rescue efforts were less active in the central Myanmar city of more than 1.7 million people early Monday, but conditions are difficult -- with temperatures expected to reach around 40C.

The sticky heat has exhausted rescue workers and accelerated body decomposition, which could complicate identification.

A desperate scene unfolded at a collapsed apartment block in Myanmar’s second biggest city on Sunday evening, when rescuers thought they had saved the life of a pregnant woman trapped under the rubble for more than 55 hours.

They amputated her leg to free her, but after pulling her out she was pronounced dead.

“We tried everything to save her,” said one of the medical responders, but she had lost too much blood from the amputation.

Muslim worshipers, meanwhile, gathered near a destroyed mosque in the city on Monday morning for the first prayer of Eid al-Fitr, the holiday that follows the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.

Funerals for hundreds of victims are also expected to take place on Monday.

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

The tremors collapsed buildings, downed bridges and buckled roads, with some of the worst destruction seen in central Myanmar.

Aftershocks continued to be felt in Mandalay over the weekend, spurring residents to flee into the streets in multiple instances of brief panic.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies launched an emergency appeal Sunday for more than $100 million to help victims.

In Bangkok, about 1000 kilometres away from Mandalay, rain fell on Monday morning at the site of a collapsed building that had been under construction at the time of Friday’s quake.

At least 18 people have been killed in Bangkok, city authorities said Sunday, with 33 injured and 78 still missing.

Most of the deaths were workers killed in the tower collapse, while most of the missing are believed to be trapped under the immense pile of debris where the skyscraper once stood.

Rescue workers raced over the weekend to find survivors, using large mechanical diggers to uncover rubble while distressed family members waited nearby.

Sniffer dogs and thermal imaging drones have been deployed to seek signs of life in the collapsed building, which is close to the Chatuchak weekend market popular among tourists.

Australian school teacher Lisa Edwards praised the calm reaction of Thai schoolkids caught up in a devastating earthquake.

Edwards, who teaches year one at the International School in Bangkok, appeared on Sunrise on Monday morning.

She was supervising her students during nap time when the earthquake struck, and her class was on the third floor but evacuated quickly to the canteen.

The students then moved to the football field where they waited for their parents to pick them up.

“It was a surreal experience ... there wasn’t a lot of panic from the children or even the staff. The kids moved quietly to the field,” Ms Edwards said.

“(There was) a lot of confusion of what was happening.

“But we were all very lucky there were no injuries, and everybody got out safely into the field, and then it is just a wait for parents having to pick up their kids.

“It happened about 1.20pm here, our time. But because of the traffic, it what difficult for a lot of parents to get there to pick up their children.

“I have lived in Ecuador before. I’ve lived in Bangkok for 20 years and I have never experienced anything like it.

“You don’t expect there to be an earthquake. I think it took people a bit of time to work out what was happening. The tremor went on for nearly three minutes, so it was enough time to work out it wasn’t normal.

“A lot of them are aware because of the tsunami that happened years ago in Thailand, about earthquakes and the effect of earthquakes, so they are very aware of those sort of situations.

“I think Thais are very good at being calm at the time, that is their superpower I guess, and to support other people.”