Hopes fade for Myanmar quake survivors

Junta govt declares week of mourning

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MANDALAY: Myanmar’s ruling junta declared a week of national mourning yesterday for the country’s devastating earthquake, which has killed more than 1,700 people, as hopes faded of finding more survivors in the rubble of ruined buildings.

National flags will fly at half-mast until Sunday “in sympathy for the loss of life and damage” from Friday’s massive 7.7-magnitude quake, the junta said in a statement.

The announcement came as the tempo and urgency of rescue efforts wound down in Mandalay, one of the worst-affected cities and the country’s second-biggest with more than 1 million inhabitants.

“The situation is so dire that it’s hard to express what is happening,” said Aung Myint Hussein, chief administrator for Mandalay’s Sagaing North monastry.

People camped out in the streets across Mandalay overnight, either unable to return to ruined homes or nervous about the repeated aftershocks that rattled the city over the weekend. Some had lost what many, including young children, simply bedded down on blankets in the middle of the roads, trying to keep as far from buildings as possible for fear of falling masonry.

More than 1,700 people are confirmed dead across Myanmar, according to the military junta. Thousands more were injured and more than 300 remain missing.