Death toll rises to 2,800 as Myanmar quake survivors plead for more help

SAGAING, Myanmar: Desperate Myanmar earthquake survivors pleaded for more aid Wednesday as the death toll rose and calls grew for the junta to halt attacks on rebels as the country battles the crisis.

The shallow 7.7-magnitude earthquake on Friday flattened buildings across Myanmar, killing more than 2,800 people and making thousands more homeless.

Several leading armed groups fighting the government have suspended hostilities during the quake recovery, but junta chief Min Aung Hlaing said military operations would continue -- despite international criticism of multiple reported air strikes. UN agencies, rights groups and foreign governments have urged all sides in Myanmar´s civil war to stop fighting and focus on helping those affected by the quake, the biggest to hit the country in decades.

AFP journalists saw chaotic scenes as at least 200 desperate people lined up for aid distribution in Sagaing, the city closest to the epicentre of the quake, some running through traffic to join the queues.

Destruction in the city is widespread, with the World Health Organization (WHO) reporting that one in three houses have collapsed, and five days after the quake locals complained of a lack of help. “Of course we don´t have enough,” said Ayethi Kar, 63, head of a school for young nuns razed to the ground by the tremors. “Now we eat donated food and water but we sleep on the ground.”

Healthcare facilities, damaged by the quake and with limited capacity, are “overwhelmed by a large number of patients”, while supplies of food, water and medicine are running low, WHO said in its latest update, issued on Tuesday.

Hopes of finding more survivors are fading, but there were moments of joy on Wednesday as two men were pulled alive from the ruins of a hotel in the capital Naypyidaw.