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Myanmar quake toll passes 1,600 as people dig for survivors with bare hands
The number of people known to have died following the devastating earthquake in Myanmar has risen to more than 1,600, with people in some areas telling the BBC they had been left to dig through rubble for their loved ones with their bare hands.
An acute lack of equipment, patchy communication networks and wrecked roads and bridges were also hampering the search for survivors.
The quake has flattened much of Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city. There was applause when rescuers pulled a woman alive from the wreckage of a 12-storey apartment block some 30 hours after it collapsed, but the Red Cross says more than 90 people may still be trapped there.
In a nearby township, rescue workers found the bodies of 12 preschool children and a teacher under a building housing a kindergarten.
Cracks and surface distortions to the main highway between the biggest city Yangon, the capital Nay Pyi Taw and Mandalay had caused severe transport disruptions, UN humanitarian agency OCHA said.
There were also shortages of medical supplies including trauma kits, blood bags, anesthetics, essential medicines and tents for health workers, it said.
Although rescue teams have been at work since yesterday and international aid has begun to enter the country, help is yet to reach the worst-hit areas and ordinary people have been trying to dig survivors out by hand.
Widely shared footage shows two men moving rubble to pry out a young woman trapped between two concrete slabs.
The BBC has spoken to locals who said that people were screaming for help from under the debris.
Elsewhere, other rescue workers have been listening out for signs of life. ”We can only rescue people when we hear them,” one said.
Earlier on Saturday, a rescue team in the Sintkai township in Mandalay’s Kyaukse district pulled out a number of people trapped in the debris of a private school. Six of them – five females and one male – had died by the time the rescue teams arrived. Among the victims were students, teachers and school staff.
A lack of equipment is greatly slowing down the rescues, a worker told BBC Burmese: “We are making do with the equipment we have. We have been trying for hours to pull out a girl trapped under the collapsed school.”
Another worker in Mandalay told a BBC reporter in Yangon that communication had been near impossible.
“The main thing is that we don’t have internet lines, we don’t have phone lines, so it’s very difficult to connect with each other. The rescue team has arrived. But we don’t know where it will go, because the phone lines are down.”
A Mandalay resident said people were doing their best in the chaotic circumstances.
“There is no coordination in the rescue efforts, no one to lead them, or tell them what to do. Locals have had to fend for themselves. If they find dead bodies in the debris, they don’t even know where to send the bodies; hospitals are overwhelmed and unable to cope,” the resident said.
The junta has put the number of damaged buildings in the Mandalay region, the epicentre of the earthquake, at more than 1,500. Power outages have exacerbated the situation, and according to officials restoring power could take days.
Mandalay airport is not functional as the runways were damaged during the earthquake. The military council said that it had been working to resume operations and a temporary hospital, medical relief camp and shelter have been set up there.
Less than 25km (15 miles) from Mandalay in Sagaing, the older of two bridges connecting the regions has completely collapsed and the newer one has developed cracks, cutting off access for rescue teams.
“Right now, there are not enough people even for emergency rescue. We can’t pick up bodies, there are so many people trapped. We can’t cross either bridge, so we are all trapped in the rubble. Please help emergency rescuers come and rescue us,” a local resident told BBC Burmese.
The recently constructed capital Nay Pyi Taw, where the military junta is headquartered, has been hit by aftershocks and small tremors. The city has seen extensive damage with high numbers of casualties, collapsed buildings and buckled roads.
Meanwhile, even while the junta has made a rare international appeal for aid, it has continued air strikes and drone attacks against the ethnic armies and armed groups it has been fighting in the country’s four-year civil war.
BBC Burmese confirmed that seven people were killed in an air strike in Naungcho in northern Shan state. This strike took place around 15:30 local time, less than three hours after the quake struck.
Pro-democracy rebel groups fighting to remove the military from power have reported aerial bombings in Chang-U township in the central Sagaing region, the epicentre of the quake. There are also reports of airstrikes in regions near the Thai border.
The UN’s special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, urged the junta to cease bombing raids.
“The problem is that you still have military operations going on right now… Military strikes by the military junta,” he told the BBC.
“I’m calling upon the junta to just stop, stop any of its military operations. This is completely outrageous and unacceptable.”
[BBC]
The Australian Open will offer a record prize pot of £55m at this year’s tournament – but players are said to be “disappointed” it does not represent a greater share of the Grand Slam’s total revenue.
Total prize money of A$111.5m represents a 16% increase on last year and is the largest player fund in the tournament’s history.
The singles champions will receive $4.15m (£2.05m) – a 19% increase on the amount which 2025 winners Madison Keys and Jannik Sinner took home.
All singles and doubles players competing at the season-opening Grand Slam will get a minimum increase of 10%.
“This increase demonstrates our commitment to supporting tennis careers at every level,” said Tennis Australia chief executive Craig Tiley.
The move comes after a group of leading players ramped up the pressure on the Grand Slam tournaments in October over increased prize money and greater player welfare.
But they are “likely to be disappointed” their key demands of the Australian Open and other Grand Slams have been “largely ignored”, a source close to the players’ group told BBC Sport.
(BBC Sports)
Conflicting reports have emerged from the ICC’s call with the BCB on Tuesday over Bangladesh travelling to India to participate in the upcoming men’s T20 World Cup.
ESPNcricinfo has learned that in a virtual call on Tuesday, the ICC told BCB that it was rejecting the latter’s request to play Bangladesh’s matches outside India due to security concerns. The ICC is understood to have told the BCB that Bangladesh will need to travel to India to play the T20 World Cup or risk forfeiting points. The BCB, though, has claimed no such ultimatum has been relayed to them by the governing body.
There has also been no official communication issued by either the BCCI or BCB on the outcome of Tuesday’s call, which was arranged by ICC after BCB wrote in on Sunday asking to “consider” moving Bangladesh’s matches outside India.
The development comes nearly a month before the 20-team tournament starts in India and Sri Lanka from February 7 and concludes on March 8. Bangladesh, placed in Group C, are scheduled to play their first three matches in Kolkata: on February 7 (vs West Indies), February 9 (vs Italy) and February 14 (vs England) with their final group game, against Nepal, in Mumbai on February 17.
The BCB’s decision to write to ICC was triggered by the BCCI “instructing” Kolkata Knight Riders to release Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman, who the franchise had bought in the IPL auction in December for INR 9.2 crore.
The BCCI’s decision was notified to media by its secretary Devajit Saikia. However, Sakia did not provide the reason behind KKR being asked to release Mustafizur, who was the only Bangladesh player bought at the 2026 auction.
It is understood that the IPL Governing Council never met to discuss the situation, so questions remain about who exactly was involved in the Mustafizur decision other than Saikia.
(Cricinfo)
The UK and France have signed a declaration of intent on deploying troops in Ukraine if a peace deal is made with Russia, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has announced.
After talks with Ukraine’s allies in Paris, he said the UK and France would “establish military hubs across Ukraine” to deter future invasion, while French President Emmanuel Macron later said thousands of troops may be deployed.
Allies also largely agreed robust security guarantees for Ukraine and proposed that the US would take the lead in monitoring a truce. But the key issue of territory is still being discussed.
Russia has repeatedly warned that any foreign troops in Ukraine would be a “legitimate target”.
Moscow has not yet commented on the announcements made in the French capital.
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and Moscow currently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory.
(BBC)
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