Myanmar's junta calls temporary ceasefire as quake toll exceeds 2,700

A man was pulled alive from the rubble of a hotel in Myanmar yesterday, five days after the country's worst earthquake in a century flattened neighbourhoods and tore through temples, bridges and roads.

- Kate Lamb Su Myat

Rescuers from Myanmar and Turkey found the 26-year-old in the ruins of the building in the capital, Naypyidaw, after midnight, the fire service and the country's ruling junta said.

The disaster has killed more than 2,700 people, and the death toll was expected to surpass 3,000 yesterday, according to Myanmar's military ruler, Min Aung Hlaing. Humanitarian agencies called for an increase in aid before the monsoon rains.

Close to the epicentre, in the decimated cities of Mandalay and Sagaing, survivors slept in the street, with the stench of corpses permeating the disaster zone. Water, food and medicine are in short supply, and the monsoon could hit in May.