Myanmar holds minute of silence for quake dead

MANDALAY (AFP) — Sirens rang out in Myanmar at precisely 12:51, the time the 7.7-magnitude quake struck on Friday centered near Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city, to signal the minute of silence in honor of 2,000 people killed in the temblor.

The ruling junta asked the population to pause at that time and bow their heads in remembrance, and said media should halt broadcasting and display mourning symbols, while prayers will be offered at temples and pagodas.

The gesture is part of a week of national mourning declared by the junta, with flags to fly at half-mast on official buildings until 6 April “in sympathy for the loss of life and damages.”

The junta said Monday that 2,056 have now been confirmed dead, with more than 3,900 people injured and 270 still missing. At least 20 people died in neighboring Thailand.

Mandalay, home to more than 1.7 million people, suffered some of the worst destruction, with many residential buildings collapsed into piles of rubble.

But the toll is expected to rise significantly as rescuers reach towns and villages where communications have been cut off by the quake.

More than 1,000 foreign rescuers have flown in to help and Myanmar state media reported that nearly 650 people have been pulled alive from ruined buildings around the country.

The dead include around 500 Muslims killed while offering Friday prayers in mosques when the quake struck, the state Global New Light of Myanmar reported.

Sleeping in the open

Four days after the shallow earthquake struck, many people in Myanmar are still sleeping outdoors, either unable to return to ruined homes or afraid of further aftershocks.

“I don’t feel safe. There are six or seven-floor buildings beside my house leaning, and they can collapse anytime,” Soe Tint, a watchmaker, told Agence France-Presse after sleeping outside.

Some of those camping out have tents but many — including babies and children — have been bedding down on blankets in the middle of roads, staying as far away as possible from damaged buildings.

Around the city apartment complexes have been flattened, a Buddhist religious complex eviscerated and hotels crumpled and twisted into ruins.

At a Buddhist examination hall, where part of the building collapsed as hundreds of monks took an exam, book bags were piled on a table outside, the uncollected belongings of the victims.

Fire engines and heavy lifting vehicles were parked outside and an Indian rescue team worked on the pancaked remains of the building.