GENEVA

UN agencies on Tuesday stressed the urgent needs in Myanmar in the wake of Friday's devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake, saying water, medicine, food, and shelter are all in short supply.

The UN humanitarian office OCHA said at a UN press briefing in Geneva that "the critical windows for search is narrow now" as 72 hours have passed.

This means that the number of people affected and casualties are expected to rise, said Marcoluigi Corsi, OCHA's humanitarian coordinator for Myanmar.

"Shelter, food, clean water, and essential household items are in short supply. Some people in the affected areas spent the night in the open ... because (there is) no electricity, no running water," he said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) representative in Myanmar said hospitals in the country are overwhelmed with patients and "the medical supplies are running dry."

Fernando Thushara added that there are shortages of running water and fuel.

UNICEF Deputy Representative Julia Rees added: "The needs are massive, and they are rising by the hour. The window for a life-saving response is closing. Across the affected areas, families are facing acute shortages of clean water, food, and medical supplies."

Noting that even before this earthquake, over 6.5 million children in Myanmar were in need of humanitarian assistance and one in three displaced people in the country is a child, Rees said: "Now, the earthquake has added another layer of crisis – pushing already vulnerable families past the brink."

She underlined that the situation is "dire" and "it's super hot" in the country, making water "the most important need." She stressed that the water pipes and septic tanks have broken.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR said the situation in Myanmar is a "top-level humanitarian" crisis "as we have not seen a tragedy and devastation like this in Myanmar in recent years."

UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch said the agency is currently identifying critical needs in the worst-hit areas of the Mandalay, Magway, and Sagaing Regions.

"The most urgent requirement is to deploy shelter and relief items to the affected areas," Baloch said. "It is also essential to monitor risks around explosive ordnance, family separation, child protection and gender-based violence."

Immediate then longer-term needs

Nadia Khoury, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies' (IFRC) delegation head in Myanmar, said that the road to recovery would be long due to very high temperatures, and the response in the weeks to come will be meeting immediate needs before shifting to other needs like shelter and recovery.

The IFRC released an immediate emergency 2 million Swiss francs (over $2.25 million) through its Disaster Response Emergency Fund and is appealing for another 100 million Swiss francs $113.3 million) in an emergency plan to support 20,000 households (100,000 people) across Bago, South Shan, Magway, Mandalay, Naypyidaw, and Sagaing for over two years.

"Areas affected were devastated only months ago by flooding. Now those same communities have been hit by another disaster, creating multilayered needs," said Khoury.

The UN agencies also drew attention to the importance of urgent funding, calling it "crucial to saving lives."

The death toll from the devastating 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck Myanmar on Friday has reached 2,719, the country’s junta chief said Tuesday.

In addition, over 4,521 people have been injured, and more than 440 remain missing.

In response to the disaster, Myanmar declared seven days of national mourning on Monday.

As time passes and hundreds of people remain unaccounted for, the number of fatalities is expected to rise.