Earthquake compounds Myanmar's humanitarian crisis as the death toll passes 2,000

BANGKOK (AP) — The death toll in last week's massive earthquake in Myanmar has passed 2,000, state media reported Monday, as rescuers and an activist group said it killed several hundred Muslims praying at mosques during the holy month of Ramadan and 270 Buddhist monks crushed by a collapsing monastery.

The quake could exacerbate hunger and disease outbreaks in a country that was already one of the world's most challenging places for humanitarian organisations to operate because of civil war, aid groups and the United Nations warned.

The 7.7 magnitude quake hit Friday, with the epicentre near Myanmar's second-largest city of Mandalay. It damaged the city's airport, buckled roads and collapsed hundreds of buildings along a wide swath down the country's centre.

Relief efforts are further hampered by power outages, fuel shortages and spotty communications. A lack of heavy machinery has slowed search-and-rescue operations, forcing many to search for survivors by hand in daily temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).

Rescue workers at Mandalay's collapsed U Hla Thein monastery said they were still searching for about 150 of the dead monks.

Some 700 Muslim worshippers attending Friday prayers were killed when mosques collapsed, said Tun Kyi, a member of the steering committee of the Spring Revolution Myanmar Muslim Network. He said some 60 mosques were damaged or destroyed. Videos posted on The Irrawaddy online news site showed several mosques toppling.

It was not clear whether those numbers were already included in the official toll.

Myanmar state MRTV reported that the leader of the military government, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, told Pakistan's prime minister during a call that 2,065 people were killed, with more than 3,900 injured and about 270 missing.

Relief agencies expect those numbers to rise sharply, since access is slow to remote areas where communications are down.

The United Nations' Myanmar country team called for unimpeded access for aid teams.

"Even before this earthquake, nearly 20 million people in Myanmar were in need of humanitarian assistance," said Marcoluigi Corsi, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator.

"We're really not clear on the scale of the destruction at this stage," Lauren Ellery, deputy director of programmes in Myanmar for the International Rescue Committee, told The Associated Press. "They were talking about a town near Mandalay where 80% of the buildings were reportedly collapsed, but it wasn't in the news because telecommunications have been slow."

Groups the IRC works with have reported that some places are cut off by landslides, she said.

The World Health Organization said it has reports of three hospitals destroyed and 22 partially damaged in the region.

"There is an urgent need for trauma and surgical care, blood transfusion supplies, anaesthetics, essential medicines and mental health support," it said.

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