Earthquake compounds Myanmar's humanitarian crisis as the death toll passes 2,000

BANGKOK (AP) — The death toll in last week's massive earthquake in Myanmar has passed 2,000, state media said Monday, as accounts of some people's last moments emerged: Two hundred Buddhist monks crushed by a collapsing monastery. Fifty children killed when a preschool classroom crumbled. Seven hundred Muslims struck while praying at mosques for Ramadan.

The quake could exacerbate hunger and disease outbreaks in a country that was already one of the world’s most challenging places for humanitarian organizations to operate because of civil war, aid groups and the United Nations warned.

The 7.7 magnitude quake hit Friday, with the epicenter near Myanmar’s second-largest city of Mandalay. It damaged the city’s airport, buckled roads and collapsed hundreds of buildings along a wide swath down the country’s center.

Relief efforts are further hampered by power outages, fuel shortages and spotty communications. A lack of heavy machinery has slowed search-and-rescue operations, forcing many to search for survivors by hand in daily temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).

Rescue workers at Mandalay’s collapsed U Hla Thein monastery said they were still searching for about 150 of the dead monks.

Some 700 Muslim worshipers attending Friday prayers were killed when mosques collapsed, said Tun Kyi, a member of the steering committee of the Spring Revolution Myanmar Muslim Network. He said some 60 mosques were damaged or destroyed. Videos posted on The Irrawaddy online news site showed several mosques toppling.

It was not clear whether those numbers were already included in the official toll.

Myanmar state MRTV reported that the leader of the military government, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, told Pakistan's prime minister during a call that 2,065 people were killed, with more than 3,900 injured and about 270 missing.

Relief agencies expect those numbers to rise sharply, since access is slow to remote areas where communications are down.

The United Nations’ Myanmar country team called for unimpeded access for aid teams.

“Even before this earthquake, nearly 20 million people in Myanmar were in need of humanitarian assistance,” said Marcoluigi Corsi, the U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator.

“We’re really not clear on the scale of the destruction at this stage,” Lauren Ellery, deputy director of programs in Myanmar for the International Rescue Committee, told The Associated Press. “They were talking about a town near Mandalay where 80% of the buildings were reportedly collapsed, but it wasn’t in the news because telecommunications have been slow.”

Groups the IRC works with have reported that some places are cut off by landslides, she said.

The World Health Organization said it has reports of three hospitals destroyed and 22 partially damaged in the region.

“There is an urgent need for trauma and surgical care, blood transfusion supplies, anesthetics, essential medicines and mental health support,” it said.

More than 10,000 buildings are collapsed or severely damaged in central and northwest Myanmar, the U.N. humanitarian agency said. One preschool classroom building collapsed in Mandalay district, killing 50 children and two teachers, it said.

An artificial intelligence analysis of satellite images of Mandalay by Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab showed 515 buildings with 80% to 100% damage and another 1,524 with 20% to 80% damage. It was not clear what percentage of the city’s buildings that represented.

Rescue efforts are also complicated by the civil war. In 2021, the military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking what has turned into significant armed resistance.

While one group has declared a partial unilateral ceasefire, the government and other armed groups have not stopped fighting.

Government forces have lost control of much of Myanmar, and many places were dangerous or impossible for aid groups to reach even before the quake. More than 3 million people have been displaced by the fighting, according to the U.N.

Ellery with the International Rescue Committee noted that the area worst hit by the earthquake was seriously damaged by flooding last year, and many displaced people sought refuge there.

Since the earthquake, many people have been sleeping outside, either because homes were destroyed or out of fear of aftershocks.

Monsoon rains start in May and finding people shelter will be a major challenge, she said.

International rescue teams from several countries are on the scene, including from Russia, China, India and several Southeast Asian countries.

On Monday, an Indian team jackhammered through slabs of fallen concrete at one site in Mandalay. They could be seen bringing out one body.

The European Union, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and others have announced millions of dollars in aid.

Despite massive cuts and firings at the U.S. Agency for International Development — the body charged with delivering humanitarian assistance overseas — the U.S. Embassy said a team of experts was on its way to Myanmar. The embassy said it would provide up to $2 million through local organizations.

A small number of U.S. military personnel were sent to assist in Bangkok, where the earthquake killed at least 18 people, many at a construction site where a partially built high-rise collapsed. Another 33 have been reported injured and 78 missing, primarily at the construction site near the popular Chatuchak market.

On Monday, heavy equipment was temporarily shut down at the site and authorities urged onlookers to be silent as they used machines to try and detect signs of life.

Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt told reporters that signs had been detected Sunday night, though experts could not determine whether it had been machine error.

Watching the crews at work, Naruemon Thonglek said she had “made some peace” with the fact that her partner and five friends there were unlikely to be found alive.

“A part of me still hope they will survive,” she said.

This story has been updated to correct that 200 monks were reported killed.

Associated Press journalists Jerry Harmer and Jintamas Saksornchai in Bangkok, and Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

A local man pushes a motorbike past a damaged building following Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

People carry their belongings as they leave their homes, damaged by Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

People inspect their homes, damaged following Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

A fish vendor awaits customers at a local bazaar next to damaged buildings following Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

A rescuer works through rubble of a collapsed building following Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

People go through the rubble of a collapsed building following Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

People carry their belongings as they leave their homes, damaged by Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

A man walks through a damaged building following Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

A rescuer works through rubble of a collapsed building following Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

A rescuer works through rubble of a collapsed building following Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

Rescuers work through rubble of a collapsed building following Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

Rescuers work through rubble of a collapsed building following Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

Myanmar's military personnel search through rubble of a collapsed building following Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

Myanmar's military personnel search through rubble of a collapsed building following Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

Myanmar's military officers search through rubble of a collapsed building following Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

Myanmar's military personnel search through rubble of a collapsed building following Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

Rescuers work at U Hla Thein Buddhist monastery that collapsed in Friday's earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar, Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP Photo)

Rescuers work at U Hla Thein Buddhist monastery that collapsed in Friday's earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar, Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP Photo)

Rescuers work at U Hla Thein Buddhist monastery that collapsed in Friday's earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar, Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP Photo)

Rescuers work at U Hla Thein Buddhist monastery that collapsed in Friday's earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar, Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP Photo)

Indian and Myanmar rescuers carry a dead body at U Hla Thein Buddhist monastery that collapsed in Friday's earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar, Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP Photo)

Indian rescuers carry a dead body at U Hla Thein Buddhist monastery that collapsed in Friday's earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar, Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP Photo)

Rescuers work at U Hla Thein Buddhist monastery that collapsed in Friday's earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar, Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP Photo)

Indian and Myanmar rescuers carry a dead body at U Hla Thein Buddhist monastery that collapsed in Friday's earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar, Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP Photo)

A view of the damaged Ottara Thiri Hospital in the aftermath of Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)

A view of the damaged Ottara Thiri Hospital in the aftermath of Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescuers search for survivors at a collapsed building in the aftermath of an earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar on Sunday, March 30, 2025. (Cai Yang/Xinhua via AP)

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, members of a China search and rescue team transfer a survivor from a collapsed Great Wall Hotel in the aftermath of an earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar, Monday, March 31, 2025. (Cai Yang/Xinhua via AP)

A view of the damaged Ottara Thiri Hospital in the aftermath of Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)

A view of the damaged Ottara Thiri Hospital in the aftermath of Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, members of a China search and rescue team transfer a pregnant survivor from a collapsed building in the aftermath of an earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar, Monday, March 31, 2025. (Myo Kyaw Soe/Xinhua via AP)

In this photo taken from video released by Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service on Sunday, March 30, 2025, Russian Emergencies Ministry rescuers, together with its Chinese colleagues, rescue a woman from under the rubble, after she was lying under piles of concrete for more than two days, in Mandalay, Myanmar. (Russia Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP)

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese rescuers looks at a collapsed building before conducting a search and rescue operation in the aftermath of an earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (Myo Kyaw Soe/Xinhua via AP)

Rescuers work at the site of the Sky Villa Condo that collapsed In Friday's earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

Tornadoes and violent storms struck parts of the South and Midwest on Wednesday, knocking down power lines and trees, ripping roofs off homes and shooting debris thousands of feet into the air.

A tornado emergency was briefly issued in northeast Arkansas, with the National Weather Service telling residents on the social platform X: “This is a life threatening situation. Seek shelter now.”

Dozens of tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings were issued in parts of Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri and Mississippi as storms hit those and other states in the evening. Forecasters attributed the violent weather to daytime heating combining with an unstable atmosphere, strong wind shear and abundant moisture streaming into the nation's midsection from the Gulf.

The coming days were also forecast to bring the risk of potentially deadly flash flooding to the South and Midwest as severe thunderstorms blowing eastward become supercharged. The potent storm system will bring “significant, life-threatening flash flooding” each day through Saturday, the National Weather Service said.

With more than a foot (30 centimeters) of rain possible over the next four days, the prolonged deluge “is an event that happens once in a generation to once in a lifetime,” the weather service said. “Historic rainfall totals and impacts are possible.”

More than 90 million people were at some risk of severe weather in a huge part of the nation stretching from Texas to Minnesota and Maine, according to the Oklahoma-based Storm Prediction Center.

A tornado emergency was briefly declared around Blytheville, Arkansas, Wednesday evening, with debris lofted at least 25,000 feet (7.6 kilometers), according to Chelly Amin, a meteorologist with the weather service. That was the weather service’s highest alert, and rare. It was not immediately clear whether there were any injuries.

“It's definitely going to be a really horrible situation here come sunrise in the morning in those areas, coming out of Arkansas,” Amin said.

More than 2 miles (3 kilometers) of Highway 18 in the area was temporarily shut down due to a downed power line.

A tornado was also reported on the ground near Harrisburg, Arkansas, in the evening.

In Pilot Grove, Missouri, several structures were damaged, cars flipped over and power poles were snapped, the state emergency management agency said. Minor injuries were reported, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Meanwhile roads were closed because of storm debris and downed utility lines near the town of Potosi, southwest of St. Louis, according to the state transportation department.

Authorities in eastern Missouri were trying to determine whether it was a tornado that damaged buildings, overturned vehicles and tore down utility poles, tree limbs and business signs in the morning in and around the city of Nevada.

Another tornado touched down in the northeastern Oklahoma city of Owasso about 6:40 a.m., according to the weather service office in Tulsa. There were no immediate reports of injuries, but the twister heavily damaged the roofs of homes and knocked down power lines, trees, fences and sheds.

Forecasters at the National Weather Service office in the area of Paducah, Kentucky, took cover during a warning at night. “We’re all good here at the office, the circulation JUST missed us to the south,” the agency said on social media.

Power was knocked out to more than 134,000 customers in Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks outages nationwide.

High winds with gusts up to 50 mph (80 kph) were expected across large parts of the Midwest. In Indiana five semitrucks were blown over on Interstate 65 near Lowell, state police reported. No one was hurt.

The dangerous weather came nearly two years to the day after an EF-3 tornado struck Little Rock, Arkansas. No one was killed, but there was major destruction to neighborhoods and businesses that are still being rebuilt today.

About 2.5 million people were in a rarely called “high-risk” zone, covering parts of west Tennessee including Memphis; northeast Arkansas; the southeast corner of Missouri; and parts of western Kentucky and southern Illinois.

The Storm Prediction Center said “multiple long-track EF3+ tornadoes" were likely. Tornadoes of that magnitude are among the strongest on the Enhanced Fujita scale, used to rate their intensity.

At a slightly lower risk for severe weather was an area that included Chicago, Indianapolis, St. Louis and Louisville, Kentucky. Dallas, Detroit, Milwaukee and Nashville, Tennessee, were also at risk.

Thunderstorms with multiple rounds of heavy rain were expected in parts of Texas, the lower Mississippi Valley and the Ohio Valley from midweek through Saturday. Forecasters warned that they could track over the same areas repeatedly, producing dangerous flash floods capable of sweeping cars away.

Middle Tennessee was looking at severe storms followed by four days of heavy rains as the front stalls out and sticks around through the weekend, according to NWS meteorologist Mark Rose.

“I don’t recall ever seeing one like this, and I’ve been here 30 years,” Rose said. “It’s not moving.”

Rain totaling up to 15 inches (38 centimeters) was forecast over the next seven days in northeastern Arkansas, the southeast corner of Missouri, western Kentucky and southern parts of Illinois and Indiana, the weather service warned, with some areas in Kentucky and Indiana at an especially high risk for flooding.

In Michigan, crews worked to restore power after a weekend ice storm. More than 122,000 customers were still without electricity on Wednesday, according to PowerOutage.us.

The Mackinac Bridge connecting Michigan’s Lower and Upper Peninsulas was shut down because large chunks of ice were falling from cables and towers. It was the third consecutive day of bridge interruptions from the ice storm.

Associated Press writers Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas; Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee; Seth Borenstein in Washington; Isabella O'Malley in Philadelphia; Ed White in Detroit; and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.

Lightning strikes as storms move through the area Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Ashland City, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Lightning strikes as storms move through the area Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Ashland City, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

A tree fell and knocked down power lines and blocked a street in a residential neighborhood during storms on Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Adrian Sainz)

Gary Deripaska, left, cleans up storm damage at his home off 96th Street North just west of Garnett Road, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Owasso, Okla. (Mike Simons/Tulsa World via AP)

A car drives through a flooded section of road near Lions Park Beach Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in St. Joseph, Mich., after heavy storms moved through Southwest Michigan. (Don Campbell/The Herald-Palladium via AP)

Severe storm damage is shown off 96th Street North between Garnett Road and Mingo Road Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Owasso, Okla. (Mike Simons/Tulsa World via AP)

An early morning severe storm damaged homes, destroying the roofs and knocked down power lines, trees, and fences off 96th Street North near Garnett Road, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Owasso, Okla. (Mike Simons/Tulsa World via AP)

Ryland Mosley, 18, who was on the 2nd story of his home when the storm passed, stands outside of it observing the damage, Wednesday, April 2, 2025 in Owasso, Okla. (Mike Simons/Tulsa World via AP)

An aerial image of a barn that collapsed after a severe storm hit Sunday along 92nd Street SE in Gaines Twp., Mich., on Monday, March 31, 2025. (Joel Bissell/MLive.com/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)

Weekend storms that toppled the steeple at Grace Baptist Church in Franklin, Ohio, is seen Monday, March 31, 2025. (Nick Graham/Dayton Daily News via AP)

A tree lies on top of a damaged home where authorities say a man was killed during a weekend storm in Stockbridge Township, Mich., seen on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (Jacob Hamilton/Ann Arbor News via AP)

An Antrim County Road Commission crew clears branches and trees hanging near Atwood Road from ice build up Tuesday, April 1, 2025, near Ellsworth, Mich., following weekend storms that deposited as much as one inch of ice over areas of northern lower Michigan. (Jan-Michael Stump/Traverse City Record-Eagle via AP)

Sgt. Tyler Midyett of the Emmet County Sheriff's Department works along with Sgt. Mitch Wallin, not pictured, to clear fallen trees from along Eppler Road in Petoskey, Mich., Tuesday, April 1, 2025, as cleanup from the weekend's ice storm continues. (Jan-Michael Stump/Traverse City Record-Eagle via AP)

Piper Kuzel, 5, watches her father, Jesse Kuzel of Charlevoix, Mich., fill gas containers at the Ellsworth Farmers Exchange Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Ellsworth, Mich., as his family has been using heat from their home's natural gas stove to keep warm with power outages widespread following the ice storm. (Jan-Michael Stump/Traverse City Record-Eagle via AP)

An uprooted tree leans on a home after a severe storm hit Sunday along Clear Lake in Barry County, Mich., on Monday, March 31, 2025. (Joel Bissell/MLive.com/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)

Storm damage from severe weather on Sunday at a farm along 84th Street near Hanna Lake Avenue in Gaines Twp., Mich. on Monday, March 31, 2025. (Joel Bissell/MLive.com/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)

A barn that collapsed from Sunday's severe storm along 92nd Street SE in Gaines Twp., Mich., on Monday, March 31, 2025. (Joel Bissell/MLive.com/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)

A toppled tree with its roots showing on Woodworth Street in Linden, Mich., on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (Jacob Hamilton/Ann Arbor News via AP)

A tree lies on top of a damaged home where authorities say a man was killed during a weekend storm in Stockbridge Township, Mich., seen on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (Jacob Hamilton/Ann Arbor News via AP)