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The death toll has risen to 3,689, with 5,020 injured and 139 still unaccounted for.
Eight Chinese nationals were confirmed dead, 13 injured in the strong earthquake.
China has ramped up efforts to assist Myanmar in its rescue and relief operations, sending supplies and rescue teams to disaster-affected areas, after a magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck the Southeast Asian country on Friday, followed by multiple aftershocks.
President Xi Jinping extended condolences on Saturday to Myanmar's leader Min Aung Hlaing. In his message, Xi said he was shocked to learn of the strong earthquake, which resulted in heavy casualties and extensive loss of property in Myanmar.
On behalf of the Chinese government and people, Xi mourned the deceased, extended sincere condolences to their bereaved families, and offered sincere sympathies to the injured and others affected by the disaster.
China and Myanmar are a community of shared future, sharing weal and woe, and the two peoples have a profound fraternal friendship, Xi said, adding that China is ready to provide more assistance and continue to support efforts to help Myanmar overcome the disaster and rebuild homes at an early date.
Premier Li Qiang also extended his condolences on Saturday to Min Aung Hlaing over the earthquake.
As of noon on Sunday, the death toll in Myanmar had climbed to about 1,700, with another 3,400 people injured and 300 missing, according to the country's State Administration Council.
The areas most severely hit by the earthquake and its aftershocks, including Myanmar's second-largest city, Mandalay, and the country's capital, Nay Pyi Daw, have seen widespread damage to infrastructure, with hundreds of buildings reduced to rubble, according to reports.
At 7:38 pm on Sunday, a China International Search and Rescue team, comprising 118 personnel and six rescue dogs, departed from Beijing for Nay Pyi Daw to assist in disaster relief efforts, according to the Chinese Ministry of Emergency Management.
The team, equipped with two rescue vehicles and 634 pieces of rescue equipment, as well as medical supplies, is scheduled to head to other areas struck by the earthquake from Nay Pyi Daw.
On Saturday morning, a 37-member rescue and medical team from China's Yunnan province, which borders Myanmar and was also hit by the earthquake, arrived in Yangon, Myanmar's largest city, with emergency relief equipment. It was the first international team to reach Myanmar.
The team proceeded to Nay Pyi Daw, where it joined rescue operations alongside local emergency responders at 6:30 pm on Saturday. After overnight efforts, at 5 am on Sunday, the team rescued an elderly man who was trapped under the rubble of a local hospital for nearly 40 hours.
Several other groups from China, including an 82-member national team, three civil teams and a team from the Red Cross Society of China, joined the search and rescue operations in Myanmar over the weekend.
On Sunday afternoon, Yunnan sent approximately 7.3 metric tons of daily necessities and rescue supplies, including instant noodles, clothes, medicines and tents, which were transported by air from the provincial capital of Kunming to Yangon.
Li Ming, spokesman for the China International Development Cooperation Agency, said on Saturday that the Chinese government has pledged 100 million yuan ($13.77 million) in emergency humanitarian aid to support earthquake relief efforts at the request of Myanmar's government.
China will provide urgently needed supplies including tents, blankets, first-aid kits, food and drinking water, which were scheduled for delivery on Monday. Further assistance will be provided based on Myanmar's needs, Li added.
Meanwhile, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck Tonga, an island nation in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, at 1:18 am on Monday local time, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.
HONG KONG -- The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government has announced that it has earmarked 30 million Hong Kong dollars ($3.86 million) from the Disaster Relief Fund for emergency relief projects following the 7.9 magnitude earthquake that struck Myanmar on Friday.
Meanwhile, various sectors in Hong Kong have been making donations to support earthquake relief, including the Hong Kong Red Cross, which has allocated 200,000 Hong Kong dollars ($25,712) to assist Myanmar and is currently providing emergency tracing services to help individuals in Hong Kong to locate family members who have lost contact due to the earthquake.
Additionally, the HKSAR government has dispatched a 51-strong search and rescue team to Myanmar, equipped with approximately 9 tons of supplies to aid in the search and rescue operations in the earthquake-affected areas.
A team of 118 members of the China International Search and Rescue flew to Myanmar to assist disaster relief efforts on Sunday evening, according to the Chinese Ministry of Emergency Management.
The members departed from Beijing at 7:38 pm Beijing time on two Y-20 transport aircraft of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force, bringing along with them six search and rescue dogs, two rescue vehicles, 634 sets of rescue equipment and supplies and medical materials.
They will first arrive in Nay Pyi Daw — capital of Myanmar — and then head to the areas stricken by the earthquake. The team includes earthquake experts, structural engineers, search and rescue personnel, medical staff and a search dog unit, it is also equipped with life detectors, demolition equipment, and a field hospital system, which enable the team to independently carry out 72-hour high-intensity rescue operations in two directions within the earthquake zone.
The CISAR, established in 2001, has assisted in over 20 international rescue missions, including the Indonesian tsunami and earthquakes in Pakistan and Nepal. It is certified by the United Nations as a professional heavy search and rescue team.
YANGON -- China Search and Rescue Team arrived in the hard-hit Mandalay City in Myanmar at around 17:00 local time on Sunday, according to China's Ministry of Emergency Management.
The Chinese rescue team, upon arrival, reviewed the disaster situation with the Chinese consular mission and the local government.
The team immediately sent an emergency squad to carry out field survey in the area where people were buried.
Seismic experts in the team also conducted a safety assessment of the damage to the buildings of the Chinese Consulate General in Mandalay.
Three civilian rescue teams organized by the Ministry of Emergency Management had arrived in Myanmar ahead of Sunday's arrival of the China Search and Rescue Team.
YANGON -- Members of the Blue Sky Rescue (BSR) team from China's Hunan province recovered a quake survivor in central Myanmar's severely-hit city of Mandalay at around 9:30 am local time on Sunday, according to the Chinese embassy in Myanmar.
The Yuelu BSR team collaborated with the local fire brigade to conduct demolition and rescue operations after detecting a survivor showing signs of life at the site of a collapsed building in Mandalay.
The first batch of five team members from the Yuelu BSR team departed from Changsha, capital of Hunan Province, on Saturday. A second batch of nine team members were scheduled to arrive in Myanmar on Sunday to join the earthquake relief efforts.
According to Myanmar's State Administration Council on Sunday, about 1,700 people died, 3,400 were injured, and 300 remained missing in the massive 7.9-magnitude earthquake in the country on Friday.
YANGON -- A 5.2-magnitude earthquake struck central Myanmar at about 1:38 pm local time on Sunday, the country's Department of Meteorology and Hydrology (DMH) reported.
According to the DMH, the epicenter was located about eight km northwest of Patheingyi town in Mandalay Region.
The epicenter, with a depth of 35 km, was initially determined to be at 22.23 degrees north latitude and 96.05 degrees east longitude, the DMH said.
Xinhua reporters at Friday's quake scenes in Mandalay felt the tremor and witnessed the panic.
Yunnan province in Southwest China dispatched 7.3 tons of crucial relief supplies, including clothing, medicine, instant noodles, and tents, via a chartered China Eastern Airlines flight from Kunming to Yangon on Sunday. The aid shipment aims to bolster Myanmar's earthquake relief efforts, offering essential support to those affected by the disaster.
YANGON -- Fourteen Chinese nationals were injured in Friday's earthquake in Myanmar, the Chinese embassy in Myanmar confirmed on Sunday.
The embassy said it would send staff to Yangon People's Hospital to visit Chinese nationals who had been transferred from severely-hit Mandalay for treatment.
Around 1,700 people have been killed so far in the 7.7-magnitude earthquake, according to Myanmar's authorities.
YANGON - About 1,700 people died, 3,400 were injured, and 300 remained missing in the massive earthquake in Myanmar, according to the country's State Administration Council on Sunday.
NAY PYI TAW/KUNMING -- Myanmar's State Administration Council Chairman Senior General Min Aung Hlaing on Sunday extended his appreciation to members of China's Yunnan Rescue Medical Team for their timely assistance after a strong earthquake hit Myanmar Friday.
The Myanmar leader visited Ottara Thiri Private Hospital in Nay Pyi Taw, the Myanmar capital, on Sunday and thanked the Chinese rescue team, who rushed to the impact area in the first time for relief efforts.
The Chinese rescue team from Yunnan province in Southwest China, joined by Myanmar's rescue forces, retrieved an elderly man in the earthquake-hit Nay Pyi Taw at 05:00 local time on Sunday.
The man had been trapped for nearly 40 hours under the rubble of the hospital in the city. After an emergency rescue operation overnight, the person was the first survivor rescued by the Chinese team after they arrived in the earthquake-stricken area of Myanmar on Saturday.
The 37-member Chinese team carried full-function life detectors, earthquake early warning systems, portable satellite phones, drones and other rescue equipment in their rescue operations.
A 7.9-magnitude earthquake hit the Southeast Asian country on Friday. Several Chinese rescue teams have joined the relief efforts with their Myanmar counterparts.
BANGKOK -- The death toll in the Thai capital of Bangkok from a powerful earthquake that hit neighboring Myanmar rose to 17, with 32 people injured and 83 others remaining missing, local authorities said on Sunday.
According to the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM), damage has been reported in 18 provinces across Thailand, impacting 420 homes, 48 temples, 76 hospitals, eight buildings, 23 schools, and 18 government offices.
The situation was under control and affected area assessments were underway, with the probability of aftershocks steadily decreasing, Phasakorn Boonyalak, director general of the DDPM, said in a statement.
Phasakorn noted that relevant agencies have been providing aid and assessing damage to facilitate assistance in accordance with applicable laws.
The department has also dispatched an Urban Search and Rescue team with specialized equipment from various disaster prevention and mitigation centers to Bangkok, the hardest-hit area, to aid in rescue efforts, he added.
An international rescue team dispatched by the Red Cross Society of China departed from Kunming, Yunnan province, to conduct humanitarian aid and life-saving search and rescue operations in Myanmar on Sunday. China Daily reporter Wei Xiaohao joined the team for frontline coverage of this cross-border assistance effort. (Video by Wei Xiaohao)
YANGON -- Thirteen Chinese nationals were injured in the earthquake in Myanmar, the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar confirmed on Sunday.
The embassy said in a written reply to Xinhua that the injured were in Mandalay Province, where most of whom are receiving medical treatment, and some of the injured are urgently transferred to Yangon for treatment.
As of 11:00 Beijing time on Sunday, the embassy had received and handled hundreds of requests for help from Chinese citizens and assisted dozens of people in finding their missing relatives and friends.
The embassy will do its best to provide consular protection and assistance to Chinese citizens, keep the consular helpline open, provide timely medical assistance information to the injured, and offer necessary assistance to those who lost their passports in the earthquake.
A total of 1,644 people died, 3,408 were injured and 139 remained missing in the earthquake in Myanmar, the country's Information Team of the State Administration Council said on Saturday night.
A 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit the Southeast Asian country on Friday. Several Chinese rescue teams have joined the relief efforts with their Myanmar counterparts.
One survivor was saved by China's Yunnan Rescue Medical Team in Nay Pyi Taw, the capital of Myanmar, on Saturday, following the 7.9-magnitude earthquake that struck the country on Friday.
In the video above, the Chinese rescue team at Ottara Thiri Hospital in Nay Pyi Taw detected the man trapped beneath collapsed floors for nearly 40 hours using life detection equipment.
The Chinese rescue team arrived in Nay Pyi Taw on Saturday and immediately joined forces with local Myanmar firefighters to search for survivors.?(Reporter: Li Yingqing / Editors: Du Juan, Song Yi)
NAY PYI TAW/KUNMING -- A rescue team of China's Yunnan province, joined by Myanmar's rescue forces, retrieved an elderly man in earthquake-hit Myanmar capital Nay Pyi Taw at 05:00 local time on Sunday.
The man had been trapped for nearly 40 hours under the rubble of a hospital in the city. After an overnight emergency rescue, it was the first person rescued by the Chinese team after arriving in the earthquake-stricken area of Myanmar on Saturday.
The 37-member team from China's Yunnan province arrived in Myanmar on Saturday, carrying full-function life detectors, earthquake early warning systems, portable satellite phones, drones and other rescue equipment.
Team members, after landing in Yangon, headed to the hard-hit city of Nay Pyi Taw.
At 18:30 local time on Saturday, the rescue team arrived in Nay Pyi Taw, immediately starting their work. According to the team, the three-story hospital where it has been working on the rescue, was severely damaged, as the first floor completely collapsed, burying numerous people.
The rescuers have been using life detectors to find survivors with vital signs under the rubble.
YANGON -- Two survivors with vital signs were found by China's Yunnan Rescue Medical Team in Nay Pyi Taw, the capital of Myanmar, on Saturday, following the 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck the country on Friday.
The Chinese rescue team arrived in Nay Pyi Taw on Saturday and immediately joined forces with local Myanmar firefighters to search for survivors.
The quake caused severe damage to a three-story hospital, with the first floor completely collapsed, trapping patients beneath the rubble.
Using life detection equipment, the Yunnan rescue team located two survivors with vital signs.
According to a local fire department official, many of the casualties in the city were elderly and children, as the earthquake hit during working hours when most adults were away from home.
