Chinese teams rescue six in quake-hit Myanmar

I had to lie to my daughter, telling her I left the baby in hospital,

said Khin Myo Swe, 49

The Buddhalord

We are all living in hardship,

wept Khin Myo Swe as an ambulance worker gently cradled the little body before a Buddha statue decorated with flowers, then took it away to be cremated

Everyone is coming here with their sad feelings, with their suffering,

said the 43-year-old, asking for anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media

Currently, about 400 Chinese earthquake experts and rescue and medical personnel are participating in the earthquake relief efforts across Myanmar,

the spokesman said

Our teams in Mandalay are joining efforts to scale up the humanitarian response despite going through the trauma themselves,

said Noriko Takagi, the U.N. refugee agency's representative in Myanmar

It doesn't matter how long we work. The most important thing is that we can bring hope to the local people,

said Yue Xin, head of the China Search and Rescue Team that pulled people out of the rubble in Mandalay, Xinhua reported

Access to all victims is an issue ... given the conflict situation. There are a lot of security issues to access some areas across the front lines in particular,

Arnaud de Baecque, resident representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Myanmar, told Reuters

We are in a race against time to save lives,

the National Unity Government said in a statement

We will have to collect more samples and conduct more tests once we can,

official Nontichai Likitaporn told a press conference

The earthquake has laid bare the deeper vulnerabilities facing Myanmar’s people and underscored the need for sustained international attention to the broader crisis,

said U.N. Special Envoy on Myanmar Julie Bishop, calling for access to all areas for aid groups and condemning what she said were continuing military operations

We have to speed up. We're not going to stop even after 72 hours."

she said, adding

This is a very, very imperfect condition for everyone. We're trying to do what we can here,

said a medic

There is currently a shortage of drinking water and electricity. Many of the damaged buildings remain uncleared, and a foul smell has begun to spread in some areas, raising concerns over potential outbreaks of infectious diseases if not properly addressed,

Cheng Wei, a Chinese citizen who runs a hotel in Mandalay, told the Global Times

The earthquake has left local residents with limited access to essential supplies. We want to do what we can to support the local community,

Wu told the Global Times

The situation is so dire that it's hard to express what is happening,

AFP news agency quoted Aung Myint Hussein, chief administrator of Mandalay's Sajja North mosque as saying

The airstrikes in the wake of the earthquake are outrageous, yet there are also mind-numbingly cruel reports of curfews being enforced that prevent people conducting search and rescue operations for loved ones after 10pm,

wrote Manny Maung of the Australia-based Lowy Institute

While international rescue teams reportedly arrived in Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw, the Myanmar military was still attacking its own people."

Manny Maung for the Lowy Institute

The scale of deaths and injuries is not yet fully understood and the numbers are expected to increase,

the WHO said in a report

You have these flooding events...that lead to disease outbreaks, they lead to displacement and food insecurity, but then with damaged hospitals and clearly damaged sanitation systems, it’s really increasing the risk of disease outbreaks,

she added

This latest tragedy compounds an already dire crisis and risks further eroding the resilience of communities already battered by conflict, displacement, and past disasters,

the UN's Myanmar country team said, calling for unimpeded access for aid convoys, medical personnel and assessment teams