Myanmar-Thailand earthquake live updates: Death toll crosses 2,000 in Myanmar

The 7.7 magnitude earthquake rattled much of Southeast Asia on Friday.

A powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake rattled much of Southeast Asia on Friday, resulting in mounting casualties and flattened skyscrapers from Myanmar to Thailand.

The epicenter was in Mandalay, Myanmar, the country's second-largest city. Even Bangkok, some 600 miles away, felt widespread shaking and saw significant damage from the quake -- including the total collapse of a skyscraper under construction.


Death toll crosses 2,000

Casualties are expected to rise as search and rescue efforts are underway in collapsed buildings in Myanmar and Thailand, officials said.

In Myanmar, the death toll has climbed to 2,056, with more than 3,900 people injured and 270 people reported missing, according to the Myanmar Military Junta.

In Bangkok, at least 13 people were killed in a building collapse in Chatuchak, according to the Bangkok Metro Authority.


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Death toll rises to 1,002 in Myanmar, 9 in Thailand

The death toll in Thailand from Friday’s earthquake has increased to nine, according to the country’s Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation. Another 1,002 have died in Myanmar.

Another nine people remain injured and 101 others are still missing.

The earthquake and its aftershocks caused damage across 13 Thai provinces as well as in Bangkok, the agency said.

A 30-story building that was under construction collapsed in the Thai capital on Friday when the powerful quake struck the region.

Search and rescue efforts were ongoing at the scene, with crews detecting 15 signs of life beneath the rubble on Saturday, according to Thailand’s National Institute of Emergency Medicine.

-ABC News' Morgan Windsor


Rubio says US willing to help, but not actively assisting yet

Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted about the potential U.S. response to the earthquake, and seemed to suggest the president meant the U.S. was willing to help rather than actively assisting.

"My prayers go out to the people of Burma and Thailand who are impacted by the earthquake," he wrote. "We've been in contact with these countries and, as @POTUS said, stand ready to provide assistance."

Rubio also confirmed the State Department’s teams in the impacted countries were safe and accounted for.

The U.S. Embassy in Myanmar has suspended nonemergency consular services for the time being. The U.S. mission to Thailand has not reported any disruption in services.
-ABC News' Shannon K. Kingston


State Department 'evaluating the need' for earthquake response

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said despite the tumult at the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. has maintained "a team of disaster experts with the capacity to respond if disaster strikes," which are commonly referred to as DART teams.

"These expert teams provide immediate assistance, including food and safe drinking water needed aftermath of a disaster. The United States is evaluating the need for assistance based on requests and dynamic reporting,” she said. [14:47:29]

But despite President Donald Trump's assertion that the U.S. is going to be helping, Bruce suggested the State Department was still in standby mode.

"What I can tell you is that we wait for formal requests," she said. "We are ready. Obviously, we are watching what is transpiring."

Bruce insisted that despite the funding flip-flops and reorganization of USAID, "there has been no impact on our ability to perform those duties, those requests for aid, if and when they come in."

-ABC News' Shannon K. Kingston


American recounts being stranded after earthquake

An American who was on a subway train in Bangkok when the earthquake struck recounted being stranded as transportation in the city ground to a halt.

When her train stopped, Sid Simone said she went on Facebook to find out what was going on.

"I saw 'earthquake in Bangkok,' and so at that point, I knew that the entire city was going to start to diminish," the Michigan native told ABC Grand Rapids affiliate WZZM in an interview earlier Friday. "I have been trying to get home for five hours now."

With no train service, Simone, who is in Bangkok to make a documentary on vegan food, said she got into a taxi but abandoned it when traffic came to a standstill and the vehicle was low on gas.

WZZM spoke to her as she was walking along a highway, still about an hour from home.

"It's unfortunate because there's so many people that, we're all fighting trying to get home, but some people are trying to fight to get home because their family member is under that building, you know. Somebody didn't make it home," she told WZZM.

She told the station that her apartment complex was just down the street from where the under-construction high-rise collapsed.

"I was so blessed that I was not there today," she said. “I could have been shopping in that area."