Ammon News -

Foreign rescue teams began flying into Myanmar on Saturday to aid the search for survivors from an earthquake that killed more than 1,000 people in the impoverished Southeast Asian nation crippling critical infrastructure amid a grinding civil war.

The death toll in Myanmar was 1,002, the military government said on Saturday, up sharply from initial state media reports of 144 dead on Friday.

"Infrastructure such as roads, bridges, and buildings were affected, leading to casualties and injuries among civilians. Search and rescue operations are currently being carried out in the affected areas," the junta said in a statement issued on state media.

The junta leader, General Min Aung Hlaing, had warned on Friday of more deaths and injuries as he invited "any country" to provide help and donations.
A Chinese rescue team arrived on Saturday while Russia and the U.S. offered aid in the disaster, which struck at lunchtime on Friday and damaged hundreds of buildings in neighbouring Thailand.

The United States Geological Service's predictive modelling estimated the death toll could exceed 10,000 people in Myanmar, and that losses could be greater than the value of the country's gross domestic product.

Much of the devastation was in Myanmar's second-largest city, Mandalay, close to the epicentre of the quake.

In the Thai capital Bangkok, 1,000 km (620 miles) from the epicentre a rescue mission was stepped up on Saturday to find construction workers trapped under the rubble of a collapsed 33-storey tower. Reuters