As of Thursday, the death toll across the country from the earthquake has risen to 3,145, with 4,589 others injured and 221 missing, Xinhua news agency reported, quoting the Myanmar Radio and Television.

BANGKOK (AP) — The death toll from the earthquake that hit Myanmar nearly a week ago rose Thursday to 3,145 as search and rescue teams found more bodies, the military-led government said, and humanitarian aid groups scrambled to provide survivors medical care and shelter.

Five friends defied the junta to care for people injured in the military coup. One returned from the battlefield to find his four friends among the dead in the March 28 earthquake.

The death toll in Myanmar has surpassed 3,000, with more than 4,500 people injured, according to state television MRTV. Yet relief aid is proceeding slowly, as humanitarian groups say the military government has blocked access to some quake-stricken areas.

Myanmar's military is limiting critically needed humanitarian aid for earthquake victims in areas where it sees opposition to its rule, the United Nations human rights office said on Friday. The U.N.