Myanmar's shadow National Unity Government (NUG), which coordinates the popular struggle against the ruling military, has announced a unilateral partial ceasefire to facilitate earthquake relief efforts.
The announcement comes despite reports the ruling junta has continued air strikes in the wake of Friday's natural disaster that has left more than 1,600 dead, with the death toll expected to continue rising.
US geologists have said the 7.7 magnitude temblor was the biggest to hit Myanmar in over a century.
The NUG said its armed wing, the People's Defense Force, would implement a two-week pause in offensive military operations starting on Sunday in earthquake-affected areas.
It said it would "collaborate with the UN and non-governmental organisations to ensure security, transportation, and the establishment of temporary rescue and medical camps", in the areas it controls.
The statement called on the country's ethnic groups, which operate their own armies, to cooperate.
There was no immediate comment by the military on the announcement.
Military continuing attacks: reports
The UN special rapporteur on Myanmar, Tom Andrews, condemned the military government's continued attacks on resistance-held areas.
Mr Andrews said at least three air strikes were carried out on the Sagain region — near the epicentre of the earthquake, and a rebel stronghold.
He said the strikes were exacerbating the crisis caused by the quake.
"This is completely outrageous and unacceptable," he told the BBC.
"The incredible damage that's going to be created by, first of all, just a diversion of people having to deal with this military operation, and divert relief operations — but obviously if you've got bombs being dropped from the sky while you're trying to rescue people it's nothing short of incredible."
Julie Bishop, the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy on Myanmar, called for both sides to lay down their arms to allow help to reach those affected by the earthquake.
"This natural disaster will greatly exacerbate an already dire situation for the people of Myanmar," the former Australian government minister told The Australian on Saturday.
"The situation has now become even more urgent and disastrous and I call upon all the parties to the conflict to cease all violence now so we can focus our attention and resources and effort on assisting those people in desperate need."
There is precedent for major disasters to play a part in helping to restore peace to areas torn by conflict, most notably in Indonesia's Aceh province after it was devastated by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
However, there is little precedent for this in Myanmar, where military governments have kept up repression even in the wake of destructive cyclones.
Sharp rise in death toll
Myanmar's ruling military said on Saturday on state television that the confirmed death toll from the earthquake rose to 1,644, as more bodies were pulled from the rubble of the scores of buildings that collapsed when it struck near the country's second-largest city.
The new total is a sharp rise compared to the 1,002 total announced just hours earlier, underlining the difficulty of confirming casualties over a widespread region and the likelihood that the numbers will continue to grow from Friday's quake.
The number of injured increased to 3,408, while the missing figure rose to 139.
Most of the casualties were in Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city with a population of more than a million people and the city closest to the epicentre of the earthquake.
Hospitals in central and north-western Myanmar were struggling to cope with the influx of injured people, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said, warning that damage to roads was hindering access.
Rescue operations in Mandalay could not match the scale of the disaster, one resident said by phone, asking not to be named because of security concerns.
"Many people are trapped but there is no help coming, just simply because there isn't manpower or equipment or vehicles," he said.
Survivors there dug with their bare hands on Friday in desperate attempts to save those still trapped, lacking heavy machinery and with authorities absent.
Even though teams and equipment have been flown in from other nations, they are hindered by the airports in those cities being damaged and apparently unfit to land planes.
Myanmar's civil war makes movement around the country both difficult and dangerous, complicating relief efforts and raising fears that the death toll could still rise precipitously.
The United States Geological Service's (USGS) predictive modelling estimated the death toll could exceed 10,000 people in Myanmar and that losses could be greater than the value of the country's gross domestic product.
Blood in high demand
The earthquake struck at midday on Friday with an epicentre not far from Mandalay, followed by several aftershocks, including one measuring 6.4.
It sent buildings in many areas toppling to the ground, buckled roads, caused bridges to collapse and burst a dam.
In the capital Naypyidaw, crews worked on Saturday to repair damaged roads, while electricity, phone and internet services remained down for most of the city.
The earthquake brought down many buildings, including multiple units that housed government civil servants, but that section of the city was blocked off by authorities on Saturday.
Myanmar's government said that blood was in high demand in the hardest-hit areas. In a country where prior governments sometimes have been slow to accept foreign aid, Min Aung Hlaing said that Myanmar was ready to accept outside assistance.
Myanmar's military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, and is now involved in a civil war with long-established militias and newly formed pro-democracy ones.
Husband embraces wife after rescue
Amidst the desperation there were some good news stories.
Rescuers pulled a woman alive from the wreckage of a collapsed apartment building in Mandalay on Saturday, 30 hours after the earthquake.
Applause rang out as Phyu Lay Khaing, 30, was brought out of the Sky Villa Condominium by rescuers and carefully removed from the rubble by stretcher.
Her husband Ye Aung, who had been waiting anxiously for news, embraced her as the stretcher was lifted down.
"In the beginning, I didn't think she would be alive," Ye Aung told AFP as he waited for his wife to emerge from the debris.
"I am very happy that I heard good news," said the trader, who has two sons with his wife — eight-year-old William, and Ethan, five.
As the ambulance drove away to hospital, Ye Aung was seen through the window clutching his wife's hand.
A Red Cross official told AFP earlier that more than 90 people could be trapped under the remains of the apartment block.
Bangkok high-rise collapses
In neighbouring Thailand, the quake rocked the greater Bangkok area, home to about 17 million people, and other parts of the country.
Bangkok city authorities said the number of confirmed dead was now 10, nine at the site of the collapsed high-rise under construction near the capital's popular Chatuchak market, while 78 people were still missing.
Rescue efforts were continuing in the hope of finding additional survivors.
On Saturday, more heavy equipment was brought in to move the tons of rubble, but hope was fading among friends and family members of the missing that they would be found alive.
"I was praying that they had survived, but when I got here and saw the ruin — where could they be? In which corner? Are they still alive? I am still praying that all six are alive," said 45-year-old Naruemol Thonglek, sobbing as she awaited news about her partner, who is from Myanmar, and five friends who worked at the site.
Thai authorities said the quake and aftershocks were felt in most of the country's provinces. Many places in the north reported damage to residential buildings, hospitals and temples, including in Chiang Mai, but the only casualties were reported in Bangkok
Earthquakes are rare in Bangkok, but relatively common in Myanmar. The country sits on the Sagaing Fault, a major north-south fault that separates the India plate and the Sunda plate.
Brian Baptie, a seismologist with the British Geological Survey, said that the quake caused intense ground shaking in an area where most of the population lives in buildings constructed of timber and unreinforced brick masonry.
"When you have a large earthquake in an area where there are over a million people, many of them living in vulnerable buildings, the consequences can often be disastrous," he said in a statement.
Airport tower down
Satellite photos from Planet Labs PBC analysed by the AP show the earthquake toppled the air traffic control tower at Naypyitaw International Airport as if shorn from its base.
Debris lay scattered from the top of the tower, which controlled all air traffic in the capital of Myanmar, the photos showed on Saturday.
International relief efforts
Australia is providing $2 million to the rescue effort through the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
"Australia's support will assist ICRC to carry out immediate lifesaving support including to address emergency medical needs," Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a statement.
"Australia does not provide any direct funding to the military regime and takes proactive steps to ensure our assistance does not legitimise the military regime in Myanmar."
China said it has sent more than 135 rescue personnel and experts along with supplies like medical kits and generators, and pledged around $US13.8 million in emergency aid.
Russia's Emergencies Ministry said that it had flown in 120 rescuers and supplies, and the country's Health Ministry said Moscow had sent a medical team to Myanmar.
China and Russia are the largest suppliers of weapons to Myanmar's military.
Other countries like India and South Korea are sending help, and the UN allocated $US5 million to start relief efforts.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Washington was going to help.
ABC/AP
