The number of victims of the devastating earthquake in Myanmar has reached 3,354, the injured are 4,850, and those declared missing without a trace - 220, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
At the same time, the leader of the military government, Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, returned to the capital Naypyidaw after one of his rare trips abroad. In the Thai capital Bangkok, he took part in a summit of the countries of South and Southeast Asia, where he had separate meetings with the leaders of Thailand, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and India.
Min Aung Hlaing told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the junta plans to hold "free and fair" elections in December, Myanmar media reported.
Modi called for a ceasefire in Myanmar's civil war, announced after the earthquake, to be made permanent and stressed that the elections must be "broadly representative and credible", a spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs in Delhi reported.
Critics of the junta have already described the planned elections as a fraud aimed at keeping the generals in power through proxies, Reuters recalls.
Since the overthrow of the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi, the army has struggled to govern Myanmar, and the economy and the supply of basic services are in chaos. The situation is being worsened by the devastating earthquake.
The civil war after the coup has displaced more than 3 million people and led to acute food insecurity. More than a third of the population needs humanitarian assistance, according to the UN.
UN emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher spent the previous night in the city of Mandalay, near the epicenter of the quake. He said humanitarian and civil society groups had led the earthquake response, praising them for their "courage, skill and determination."
The UN human rights office said yesterday that the junta was restricting aid deliveries to earthquake-hit areas where residents do not support its rule. The world body is investigating 53 attacks by the junta against its opponents, including air strikes, 16 of which were carried out after the ceasefire was declared, Reuters noted.
Washington announced yesterday an increase in its financial aid to Myanmar after the earthquake and urged other countries around the world to do more to provide humanitarian aid, Agence France-Presse noted. The US State Department said aid to Myanmar was being increased from $2 million to $9 million.
The US has traditionally been a leading provider of humanitarian aid, but after taking office, Republican President Donald Trump signed an executive order freezing US foreign aid for 90 days, AFP recalls.