Myanmar marks one month since deadly quake

YANGON, April 29 ------ Myanmar marked one month since suffering its fiercest earthquake in more than a century, with military bombardments unabated despite a humanitarian truce as thousands of survivors camp in makeshift shelters. The magnitude-7.7 tremor was the strongest with an epicenter on Myanmar's land mass since 1912, the United States Geological Survey reported, killing nearly 3,800 according to an official toll still rising daily.

Devastation centered on the second most populous city of Mandalay where apartments, tea shops, hotels and religious institutes were razed or heavily damaged. "It's been a month but we are still very busy trying to get back what we lost," said one Mandalay resident who asked to remain anonymous. "I am not the only one still in difficulty, it's everyone around me as well."

With tens of thousands people still homeless as monsoon season approaches, aid agencies are warning of major challenges to come. "People are extremely concerned about what will happen in the next few weeks," the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Myanmar chief Nadia Khoury told AFP. Meanwhile, she said the organization was planning a two-year relief plan because "the geographical magnitude of this earthquake has been absolutely huge."

Source: manilatimes.net