Myanmar Declares Week of Mourning as Toll Tops 2,000

As communications are down in much of Myanmar, the true scale of the disaster has yet to emerge and the death toll is expected to rise

- Associated Press

MANDALAY: Myanmar declared a week of national mourning on Monday for the country's devastating earthquake, as the death toll passed 2,000 and hopes faded of finding more survivors in the rubble of ruined buildings. National flags will fly at half-mast until April 6 "in sympathy for the loss of life and damages" from Friday's massive 7.7-magnitude quake, the ruling 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-largest, with more than 1.7 million inhabitants.

"The situation is so dire that it's hard to express what is happening," said Aung Myint Hussein, chief administrator of Mandalay's Sajja North mosque.

People camped out in the streets across Mandalay for a third successive night, either unable to return to ruined homes or nervous about the repeated aftershocks that rattled the city over the weekend.