SAGAING, Myanmar: The head of Myanmar’s junta arrived in Bangkok on Thursday for a regional summit as the death toll from his country’s devastating earthquake passed 3,000. Min Aung Hlaing will join a BIMSTEC gathering — representing the seven littoral nations of the Bay of Bengal — where he will raise the response to Friday’s 7.7-magnitude quake.

The junta chief arrived at Bangkok’s plush Shangri-La hotel, the venue for Friday’s summit, amid tight security, AFP journalists saw. Many nations have sent aid and teams of rescue workers to Myanmar since the quake but heavily damaged infrastructure and patchy communications — as well as a rumbling civil war — have hampered efforts.

Myanmar has been engulfed in a brutal multi-sided conflict since 2021, when Min Aung Hlaing’s military wrested power from the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Following reports of sporadic clashes even after Friday’s quake, the junta joined its opponents on Wednesday in calling a temporary halt to hostilities to allow relief to be delivered. AFP journalists saw hectic scenes on Thursday in the city of Sagaing — less than 15 kilometers (nine miles) from the epicenter — as hundreds of desperate people scrambled for emergency supplies distributed by civilian volunteers.

Roads leading to the city were packed with traffic, many of the vehicles part of aid convoys organized by civilian volunteers and adorned with banners saying where they had been sent from across Myanmar.

Destruction in Sagaing is widespread, with 80 percent of buildings damaged, 50 percent severely, UNDP resident representative for Myanmar Titon Mitra told AFP. “The situation is really devastating,” he said. Food markets are unusable and hospitals are overwhelmed by patients and structurally unsound, he said, with patients being treated outdoors in heat of 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

“We have seen children, pregnant women, injured people there. There’s not enough medical supplies,” he said.

“If you look at the overall impacted area, there’s possibly three million-plus that may have been affected.” Residents say they still face a lack of help nearly a week after the quake. — AFP