Emergency workers in Myanmar rescued a woman on Tuesday who had been trapped for more than 90 hours under the rubble of a building after a devastating earthquake that has killed at least 2,700 people.
The woman, around 63 years old, was found alive and transferred to a hospital, the Myanmar Fire Services Department said, a rare moment of hope as the country held a minute’s silence to honour the dead.
Four days after the shallow 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck, many people in Myanmar are still sleeping outdoors, either unable to return to ruined homes or afraid of further aftershocks.
The head of the ruling junta, Min Aung Hlaing, said 2,719 people were confirmed dead so far, with more than 4,500 injured and 441 still missing.
The toll is expected to rise significantly as rescuers reach towns and villages where communications have been cut off by the quake.
At 12:51:02 (0621 GMT) — the precise time the quake struck on Friday — sirens wailed to bring the country to a standstill to remember those lost.
Mandalay, the country’s second-biggest city with 1.7 million inhabitants, suffered some of the worst destruction.
Outside the Sky Villa apartment complex, one of the city’s worst-hit disaster sites, rescue workers stopped and lined up with hands clasped behind their backs to pay their respects.
Officials and attendants stood behind a cordon, watching relatives further back, as the sirens wailed and a Myanmar flag flew at half-mast from a bamboo pole tied to a rescue tent.
The moment of remembrance is part of a week of national mourning declared by the ruling junta, with flags to fly at half-mast on official buildings until April 6 “in sympathy for the loss of life and damages”.
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.
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