The military junta said a week of mourning would be observed as the death toll continues to rise following Friday’s devastating earthquake. Search and rescue operations are continuing.

In Myanmar, search and rescue efforts for victims of Friday’s 7.7 magnitude earthquake continued on Monday.

The death toll has continued to rise with local officials confirming 2,056 deaths, over 3,900 injured and more than 270 still missing.

With communications severely disrupted, the true scale of the disaster remains unclear and it is feared the death could rise significantly.

Search and rescue efforts continuing

In Mandalay, near the epicenter of Friday’s quake, rescuers managed to free four people, including a pregnant woman and a

girl, from collapsed buildings, China’s Xinhua news agency reported.

Fearful residents have been camping out in the streets of Myanmar’s second-largest city, unable to return to their ruined homes or simply to scared to shelter in buildings due to aftershocks that continued to rattle the city over the weekend.

Mandalay’s 1,000-bed general hospital has been evacuated, with hundreds of patients being treated outside.

“The situation is so dire that it’s hard to express what is happening,” AFP news agency quoted Aung Myint Hussein, chief administrator of Mandalay’s Sajja North mosque as saying.

The UN says search and rescue efforts have been severely impacted by damaged roads and critical infrastructure.

Week-long period of mourning declared

Myanmar’s military junta has declared a week of national mourning with flags to be flown at half-mast until April 6.

The military rulers said that a minute’s silence would be observed on Tuesday to remember the victims of the earthquake.

The country will come to a standstill at 12:51:02 pm (0621 GMT) — at the moment the 7.7-magnitude quake struck on Friday — the junta said in a statement.

Rescue teams in race against time in Thailand

Hundreds of kilometers away in Thailand’s capital Bangkok, at least 19 people have been confirmed dead following Friday’s earthquake.

Earthmoving machinery continued to clear piles of rubble at the site of a collapsed building where officials say they have not given up hope of finding more survivors in the wreckage.

Authorities believe 76 others may still be trapped among the debris.

Tavida Kamolvej, Bangkok’s deputy governor, told reporters that crews are speeding up the search. “Every second really counts,” she said.

Edited by: Richard Connor

DW News