Myanmar quake rescue bids wind down as death toll rises

Long-shot efforts to find survivors from Myanmar's devastating March 28 earthquake are winding down as rescue efforts are supplanted by increasing relief and recovery activity, with the death toll from the disaster hitting 3600 and still climbing.

In the capital Naypyitaw, people cleared debris and collected wood from their damaged houses under drizzling rain and soldiers removed wreckage at some Buddhist monasteries.

Myanmar Fire Services Department said on Monday that rescue teams had recovered 10 bodies from the rubble of a collapsed building in Mandalay, Myanmar's second biggest city.

It said international rescuers from Singapore, Malaysia and India had returned to their countries after their work to find survivors was considered completed.

The number of rescue teams operating in the residential areas of Naypyitaw has been steadily decreasing.

The 7.7 magnitude quake hit a wide swath of the country, causing significant damage to six regions and states.

The earthquake left many areas without power, telephone or mobile phone connections and damaged roads and bridges, making the full extent of the devastation hard to assess.

Major General Zaw Min Tun, a spokesperson for the military government, said late on Monday that the quake's death toll has reached 3600, with 5017 injured and 160 missing.

He said search and rescue operations involved 1738 personnel from 20 countries, and had helped find and extract 653 survivors.

He also said the quake has officially been named "the Big Mandalay Earthquake" to ensure consistency in future documentation and referencing.

Previous significant earthquakes also received official names.

Myanmar's military government and its battlefield opponents meanwhile have been trading accusations over alleged violations of ceasefire declarations each had declared to ease earthquake relief efforts.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the army's 2021 takeover ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, which led to peaceful protests that escalated into armed resistance and what now amounts to civil war.

Although the military government and its armed opponents declared unilateral ceasefires for a temporary period, reports of continued fighting are widespread, with the army coming in for special attention for continuing aerial bombing, according to independent Myanmar media and eyewitnesses.