The Southeast Asian nation of Myanmar has been plagued by wars and natural disasters since it became independent from Britain in 1948, when it was still called Burma.Relief efforts from Friday’s devastating 7.

In a censored nation that runs on rumor and omens, people in Myanmar wonder whether the latest disaster might be a portent of regime change.

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.

A massive earthquake that rocked Myanmar could exacerbate hunger and disease outbreaks in a country already wracked by food shortages, mass displacement and civil war, aid groups and the United

Aid groups in the worst-hit areas of Myanmar said there was an urgent need for shelter, food and water after an earthquake that killed more than 2,700 people.

The death toll from the 7.7 magnitude earthquake that hit Myanmar has risen to more than 1,700 as more bodies have been pulled from the rubble