Bangkok, April 1 -- The death toll in the recent massive earthquake in Myanmar has crossed 2,000, state media said on Monday, as accounts of some people's last moments emerged in public domain. Among them were 200 Buddhist monks crushed by a collapsing monastery, followed by 50 children in a preschool classroom and 700 people struck while praying at mosques for Ramadan.

The quake could exacerbate hunger and disease outbreaks in a country, that was already identified as one of the world's most challenging places for humanitarian organisations to operate due to civil war, aid groups and the United Nations (UN) warned.

The 7.7 magnitude quake hit on Friday (Mar. 28), with the epicentre identified near Myanmar's second-largest city of Manda...