In Myanmar, state-run television reported that the death toll from last week’s devastating earthquake has crossed 2,886, with a further 4,639 injured and 373 missing. Local media reported that rescuers were able to pull a man alive from the rubble five days after the tremor.
The 26-year-old hotel worker was saved by a joint Burmese-Turkish team and brought to a local hospital. Meanwhile, the United Nations has urged the military junta to cease hostilities with rebels; however, reports indicate that the military has launched several strikes in recent days despite the disaster and a partial truce agreement.
According to the UN, around 3 million people in Myanmar have been displaced from their homes, and 20 million were in need of aid even before the earthquake struck due to years of violence between the junta and rebel militias.
The military junta has put out a rare appeal for international aid, but its uneasy relations with many foreign countries, including the UK and the US, has meant that while these countries have pledged aid, help in the form of manpower on the ground is currently only from countries like India, China and Russia, among a few others.
And so far those rescue efforts appear to be focused on structures where masses of people are feared trapped – the high-rise Sky Villa condominium complex which was home to hundreds of people, and U Hla Thein Buddhist academy where scores of monks were taking an examination when the earthquake struck.