UN warns of cholera as water, aid scarce post Myanmar quake
STORY: Patients lie on hospital beds out in the open in a makeshift ward at Mandalay hospital in quake-hit Myanmar.
It's amid fresh concerns by the UN about a shortage of shelter, clean water and medicine as the war-torn country responds to the massive disaster.
Friday's 7.7 magnitude earthquake was the strongest to strike the Southeast Asian country in more than a century.
Over 2,700 have been confirmed dead and thousands more are injured.
The UN's refugee agency, has identified the situation as a top-level humanitarian crisis and is mobilizing stocks like plastic sheets, sleeping material and mosquito nets.
UN body OCHA's Humanitarian Coordinator Marcoluigi Corsi is on the ground in Yangon.
'The immediate needs of the affected communities, as in any, I would say, earthquake are becoming increasingly urgent. You have shelter, food, the clean water, and essential household items are all in short supply. Some people in the affected areas spent the night in the open.''
Critical infrastructure like roads and bridges are also severely damaged.
The UN's refugee agency said it took teams 13 hours to reach Mandalay from Yangon, in what is normally an eight-hour journey.
UNICEF's deputy representative Julia Rees, who is also in Yangon, said there is a shortage of drinking water and agencies are concerned about cholera spreading.
'It's really, really dire. I was in the communities on Saturday and the most immediate and important need is water. It is super, super hot out there. And communities don't have access to running water, and they don't have access to drinking water. /FLASH/ We need to be providing water that will last those households a couple of days and then come back to make sure that they have sufficient for their household needs until we can find a more sustainable option.'
The World Health Organization said hospitals were overwhelmed and medical supplies and fuel were running out.
Agencies In Myanmar have also raised funding concerns - urging countries to offer money so they can replenish stocks.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since early 2021, when the military ousted an elected civilian government.
A protest movement morphed into an armed rebellion against the junta and the widening conflict has displaced over 3.5 million people.
:: Myanmar Fire Services Department
However a rebel alliance on Tuesday declared a month-long unilateral ceasefire in its conflict with the ruling military to support an international humanitarian response to the disaster.
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