Myanmar quake: Woman pulled alive from rubble after three days

Rescuers in Myanmar successfully freed a woman from the wreckage of a collapsed hotel, offering a rare moment of hope on Monday, three days after a powerful earthquake devastated the region. The disaster has claimed approximately 2,000 lives as search teams in both Myanmar and Thailand race against time to locate additional survivors.

According to a Facebook post from Chinese officials, the woman was rescued from the debris of the Great Wall Hotel in Mandalay. The city — Myanmar's second largest after capital Yangon (Rangoon) — is located near the epicenter of Friday's 7.7-magnitude quake, which left widespread destruction across Myanmar and caused significant damage in neighbouring Thailand.

In Thailand’s capital Bangkok, emergency crew resumed their urgent efforts on Monday to locate 76 individuals believed to be trapped under the ruins of an unfinished skyscraper that collapsed during the quake. With nearly three days having elapsed since the disaster, fears mount that more bodies will be recovered, potentially increasing Thailand’s death toll, which stood at 18 as of Sunday.

In Myanmar, state media have confirmed at least 1,700 fatalities. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported that the death toll had climbed to 2,028, though a Reuters report stated that it was unable to immediately verify this figure.

A rescue team managed to extract the woman from the rubble of Mandalay’s Great Wall Hotel nearly 60 hours after the quake struck, the Chinese embassy in Myanmar stated in a Facebook post. She was reported to be in stable condition. Meanwhile, the United Nations announced it was rushing relief supplies to an estimated 23,000 survivors in central Myanmar.

"Our teams in Mandalay are joining efforts to scale up the humanitarian response despite going through the trauma themselves," said Noriko Takagi, the UN refugee agency’s representative in Myanmar. "Time is of the essence as Myanmar needs global solidarity and support through this immense devastation."

Aid has been arriving from neighbouring countries including India, China, and Thailand, as well as from Malaysia, Singapore, and Russia. The US has also pledged $2 million in humanitarian assistance through Myanmar-based aid organisations. In a statement, the US government announced that the beleaguered USAID’s emergency response team is deploying to Myanmar, despite ongoing budget cuts under the Trump administration.

The earthquake’s destruction has added to Myanmar’s existing turmoil, as the country remains embroiled in a civil war triggered by the 2021 military coup that ousted the elected government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

One rebel group alleged that, despite the earthquake, the military continued airstrikes on villages. Singapore’s foreign minister has called for an immediate ceasefire to facilitate relief efforts. The crisis has further weakened Myanmar’s infrastructure, with critical bridges, highways, airports, and railways sustaining severe damage.

The ongoing conflict has already displaced over 3.5 million people, crippled the economy, and left the healthcare system in a dire state, compounding the challenges for humanitarian assistance following the massive natural disaster.

With agency inputs