Myanmar has raised the death toll from last week’s devastating earthquake to more than 1,700.
The country’s military-led government announced the raised casualty count on Sunday and declared a weeklong mourning period from Monday. Meanwhile, the search and rescue effort was reportedly being slowed by a lack of resources and equipment and damaged infrastructure.
The magnitude 7.7 earthquake hit Myanmar at midday on Friday, causing widespread damage, including in the capital Naypitaw. A second, magnitude 6.4 tremor followed shortly afterwards.
The earthquake’s epicentre was about 17km (11 miles) west of the country’s second-largest city, Mandalay, which has a population of nearly 1.5 million. (Aljazeera)
