The junta’s announcement of a humanitarian ceasefire follows similar announcements by the opposition National Unity Government and a powerful alliance of ethnic armed groups in the days since the March 28 earthquake. The Kachin Independence Army, another prominent ethnic armed group, has since followed suit.

Myanmar's deadliest natural disaster in years has strengthened the position of ruling general Min Aung Hlaing.

It was only hours after Myanmar was hit by its strongest earthquake in a century when the ruling military regime resumed bombing parts of the war-torn country where it lost crucial territory over more than a year of intense fighting.