/
Survivors still being found from Myanmar earthquake but hopes for widespread recovery are fading

Survivors still being found from Myanmar earthquake but hopes for widespread recovery are fading


Survivors still being found from Myanmar earthquake but hopes for widespread recovery are fading

BANGKOK — Rescue workers saved a 63-year-old woman from the rubble of a building in Myanmar's capital on Tuesday, but hope was fading of finding many more survivors of the violent earthquake that killed more than 2,700 people.

The fire department in Naypyitaw said the woman was successfully pulled from the rubble 91 hours after being buried when the building collapsed in the 7.7 magnitude earthquake that hit midday Friday. Experts say the likelihood of finding survivors drops dramatically after 72 hours.

The head of Myanmar’s military government, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, told a forum for relief donations in Naypyitaw that 2,719 people have now been found dead, with 4,521 others injured and 441 missing, Myanmar's state MRTV television reported.

He said that Friday’s earthquake was the second most powerful in the country's recorded history after a magnitude 8 quake east of Mandalay in May 1912.

The casualty figures are widely expected to rise, but the earthquake hit a wide swath of the country, leaving many areas without power, telephone or cell connections and damaging roads and bridges, making the full extent of the devastation hard to assess.

The World Health Organization said that more than 10,000 buildings overall are known to have collapsed or been severely damaged by the quake..

The earthquake also rocked neighboring Thailand, causing a high-rise building under construction to collapse and burying many workers.