Myanmar’s Govt-In-Exile Says Earthquake Death Toll Crossed 2,400, Refuting Junta’s Numbers: Top Updates

Last Updated:March 31, 2025, 18:39 IST

The junta’s numbers could not be verified by News18 and also by news agencies abroad after the junta barred foreign press from entering Myanmar to cover the earthquake.

Commuters drive past a building that collapsed, in the aftermath of a strong earthquake, in Mandalay, Myanmar. (IMAGE: REUTERS)

The ruling military junta said that the death toll in the deadly Myanmar earthquakes have risen to 2,056. The junta’s numbers could not be verified by News18 and also by news agencies abroad after the junta barred foreign press from entering Myanmar to cover the earthquake. The toll according to observers is likely to be higher than the official estimate.

A statement from a junta spokesperson said that 270 more people were still missing, three days after Friday’s shallow 7.7-magnitude quake.

The junta, which is facing threats from the ethnic armed rebels, said more than 3,900 people were injured in the earthquake that toppled buildings and high-rises.

Here are the latest updates from Myanmar which faces large-scale devastation following the earthquake:

The Myanmar Military Council has barred foreign journalists from covering the recent earthquake, with spokesperson Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun citing security concerns, widespread destruction, power outages and water shortages as reasons for the restriction.People camped out in the streets across Mandalay overnight, either unable to return to ruined homes or nervous about the repeated aftershocks.An armed resistance movement against Myanmar’s military-run government criticised the junta on Sunday for conducting airstrikes on villages even as the country reels from an earthquake that has killed around 1,700 people. The Karen Union, one of Myanmar’s oldest ethnic armies, said in a statement the junta “continues to carry out airstrikes targeting civilian areas, even as the population suffers tremendously from the earthquake".Some 700 worshippers were killed when mosques collapsed, said Tun Kyi, a member of the steering committee of the Spring Revolution Myanmar Muslim Network. It was not clear whether they were already included in the official count of casualties.The true number of people killed and injured across the regions hit is thought to be possibly many times the official figures, but with telecommunication outages and extreme challenges to movement around the country, little is known about the damage in many areas, according to a report by the Associated Press.An artificial intelligence analysis of satellite images of Mandalay by Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab showed 515 buildings with 80%-100% damage and another 1,524 with between 20% and 80% damage.Friday’s quake, one of the strongest to hit Myanmar in a century, has damaged infrastructure including bridges, highways, airports and railways – hampering rescue efforts as a civil war rages on in the Southeast Asian nation. “This is not just a disaster; it is a complex humanitarian crisis layered over existing vulnerabilities," Alexander Matheou, regional director for Asia Pacific at the Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said in a statement.The World Health Organization said it has reports of three hospitals destroyed and 22 partially damaged in the region.Mandalay’s 1,000-bed general hospital has been evacuated, with hundreds of patients being treated outside. With temperatures forecast to hit 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) on Monday, patients lay on gurneys in the hospital car park, many with only a thin tarpaulin rigged up to shield them from the fierce tropical sun. flags will fly at half-mast until April 6 “in sympathy for the loss of life and damages" from Friday’s massive 7.7-magnitude quake, the ruling junta said in a statement.Location :

Mandalay, Myanmar

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News world Myanmar’s Govt-In-Exile Says Earthquake Death Toll Crossed 2,400, Refuting Junta’s Numbers: Top Updates