Bare-handed monks slowly pick away the rubble that was once the wall of a historic Buddhist monastery in Mandalay, its exposed side a searing reminder of the deadly earthquake that rocked the city five days ago.

Rescue workers at the U Hla Thein monastery said 270 monks were taking a religious exam when the quake hit, decimating the monastery. 70 were able to escape, but 50 have already been found dead and 150 are still unaccounted for.

The UK's Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) is launching an appeal to help the thousands of people injured and displaced as a result of last week's powerful earthquake which struck Myanmar and the wider region.

Hospitals are overwhelmed, and people are sleeping out on the streets, anywhere they can, in fields and playgrounds and religious compounds.”

The smell of decaying bodies permeated the streets of Myanmar's second-largest city on Sunday as people worked frantically by hand to clear rubble in the hope of finding someone still alive, two days after a massive earthquake struck that killed more than 1,

Volunteers gathered to help, some coming in from other cities, to do whatever they could in the city near the epicenter of the powerful quake.

A 5.1-magnitude aftershock hit near Mandalay on Sunday, following the 7.7 quake on Friday that has killed more than 1,600 people.

After a 7.7 magnitude shook Myanmar on Friday (March 28), killing more than 2,800 people, international rescuers rushed into the devastated Southeast Asian country.