Aid groups in the worst-hit areas of Myanmar said there was an urgent need for shelter, food and water after an earthquake that killed more than 2,700 people, but said the country’s civil war could prevent help reaching those in need.
The death toll had reached 2,719 and is expected to rise to more than 3,000, Myanmar’s military leader Min Aung Hlaing said in a televised address on Tuesday, reports Reuters. He said 4,521 people were injured, and 441 were missing.
The 7.7 magnitude quake, which hit around lunchtime on Friday, was the strongest to hit the Southeast Asian country in more than a century, toppling ancient pagodas and modern buildings alike.
In neighbouring Thailand, rescuers pressed on searching for life in the rubble of a collapsed skyscraper in the capital Bangkok, but acknowledged time was against them.
In Myanmar’s Mandalay area, 50 children and two teachers were killed when their preschool collapsed, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
LND/NE
