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International rescue teams have started returning home as arescue efforts from the March 28 earthquake have started winding down and the focus turns to recovery for the millions of people impacted.
By Sean Breslin, Jan Wesner Childs, Jenn Jordan and Renee Straker
April 10, 2025
Man Makes Heart-Stopping Jump During Quake
The efforts to find survivors in the rubble of the March 28 earthquake that struck Myanmar and Thailand are winding down, as the death toll surpasses 3,600.
The Myanmar Fires Services Department told the Associated Press that international rescue teams from countries like Singapore, Malaysia and India have returned to their countries. A spokesperson for the military government said rescue operations included personnel from 20 countries, and that about 160 people remain missing, with 5,017 injured.
The focus is now turning to those who survived and are in need of help. The U.N. Office For The Coordination Of Humanitarian Affairs issued a report on Monday that said more than 17.2 million people are living in areas impacted by the devastating quake, and they urgently need food, water, shelter and more.
Safe shelter will become an even bigger concern when the monsoon season sets in, usually in June. The report notes, “People left homeless by the earthquakes are exposed to extreme heat during the country’s hottest and driest month of the year, and rains have already started in Mandalay — posing an additional threat to those sheltering in the open.”
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The Associated Press reported via the World Health Organization that more than 10,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed in central and northwestern Myanmar. Residents who lost their homes or were fearful of ongoing aftershocks were sleeping outside, and rescue crews endured triple-digit heat during the daytime.
The earthquake struck around midday local time on Friday, March 28 and was quickly followed by a powerful 6.4 magnitude aftershock, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Amid the search, there was a glimmer of good news when a 26-year-old man was pulled from underneath a destroyed building alive in the Myanmar capital of Naypyitaw. The Associated Press identified the man as Naing Lin Tun, and added that it took upward of nine hours to remove the man from the spot where he was trapped for nearly 108 hours.
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Myanmar, one of the poorest countries in the world, is in the midst of a civil war and information there is tightly controlled.
Video shared to social media showed a massive crack reported to have opened up not far from the quake's epicenter.
The military government says the quake has officially been named the "Big Mandalay Earthquake." Previous significant earthquakes also received names
In Bangkok, a high-rise that was under construction collapsed amid the violent shaking and hundreds of thousands fled their homes and offices to get outside, fearing additional building collapses.
"All of a sudden the whole building began to move. Immediately there was screaming and a lot of panic," Fraser Morton, who is visiting Bangkok from Scotland, told the AP.
Rooftop pools shook amid the tremors, sending waterfalls cascading down to the streets below.
Damage and injuries were also reported in China's Yunnan and Sichuan provinces, the AP said.
Myanmar was hit by at least two weather disasters last year. Typhoon Yagi triggered flooding and landslides in September that aid groups say left a reported 200 people dead. More than 320,000 people were displaced from their homes. Flooding in July reportedly killed more than 300 people.
Weather.com senior writer Jan Childs covers breaking news and features related to weather, space, climate change, the environment and everything in between.
