Myanmar earthquake death toll rises to over 3,300

The death toll from the devastating 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck Myanmar on Friday has reached 3,332, according to independent tallies, making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in the country’s history.

The quake struck at 12:50 p.m. local time on Friday near the city of Sagaing, just west of Mandalay. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reported the earthquake at a shallow depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), triggering violent shaking across central Myanmar, including the capital Naypyidaw.

Myanmar’s military junta has reported about 1,700 deaths, more than 3,000 injured, and 139 people missing. The opposition-led National Unity Government (NUG) has released its own figures, reporting 1,614 confirmed deaths, 1,557 injuries, and 1,376 people missing.

Asked by BNO News about the discrepancies, the NUG’s Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management were unable to make a comment on the comparison with the data released by the military Junta. “We lack information on their data collection method,” the ministry said. “There may be some overlapping information.”

Because both the junta and the NUG control different parts of the country—particularly in areas that were hardest hit by the earthquake—their figures are based on separate reporting networks. As a result, it remains unclear how much overlap exists between the two counts. For now, BNO News will report the combined total from both sources—acknowledging the potential for duplication—until more definitive information becomes available.

A different count from independent Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), at least 2,601 people have been confirmed dead across the country. The worst-hit areas include Mandalay Region with 1,790 fatalities, Naypyidaw with 402, Sagaing Region with 314, Southern Shan State with 79, and Bago Region with 35.

Across Myanmar, thousands of buildings have collapsed, including apartment blocks, schools, hospitals, temples, bridges, and government offices. Mandalay University caught fire after collapsing, and the air traffic control tower at Naypyidaw International Airport was destroyed. Internet and phone services have been severely disrupted, hampering relief operations.

The earthquake has also caused significant damage in neighboring Thailand, where 18 people were killed and 78 remain missing, most of them from a 30-story building under construction that collapsed in Bangkok.

Officials in China reported two injuries and damage to nearly 850 homes in Ruili, near the border with Myanmar. The quake was felt across a large portion of Southeast and South Asia, including India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Laos, and Malaysia.

The USGS estimates that more than 7.3 million people experienced severe to violent shaking, with over 17.5 million exposed to strong or very strong shaking. Its models project fatalities between 10,000 and 100,000, with an almost equal chance of exceeding the upper limit. Damage could total up to $100 billion—potentially more than Myanmar’s entire annual GDP.

The earthquake is the strongest to strike Myanmar since 1912 and could soon surpass the death toll from the 1930 Bago earthquake, which, based on upper estimates of around 7,000 fatalities, remains the deadliest in the country’s modern history.