Rains add to challenge for Myanmar quake relief, toll at 3,471

BANGKOK: Rains fell on parts of earthquake-hit Myanmar over the weekend, which aid agencies said could complicate relief efforts and raise the risk of disease as the United Nations aid chief said more tents were needed to shelter those left homeless.

The death toll from the powerful quake that hit on March 28 rose to 3,471, state media reported, with 4,671 people injured and another 214 still missing. Aid agencies have warned the combination of the unseasonable rains and extreme heat could cause outbreaks of disease, including cholera, among quake survivors who are camping in the open.

“Families sleeping outside the ruins of their homes while bodies of loved ones are pulled from rubble. Real fear of more quakes,” visiting U.N. aid chief Tom Fletcher said in a post on X.“We need to get tents and hope to survivors as they rebuild their shattered lives,” he said, adding strong, coordinated action was the key to saving as many lives as possible. Myanmar’s neighbours, such as China, India and Southeast Asian nations, are among those that dispatched relief supplies and rescuers over the past week to aid the recovery effort in quake-hit areas that are home to about 28 million people.