Slow relief efforts after Myanmar quake

BANGKOK, March 27 (UPI) -- Witnesses say the death toll from the recent earthquake in Myanmar is at least double the official government estimate of 75.

Rescue efforts were described as relatively slow with large numbers of people forced to camp out in the open or seek shelter in monasteries, the Bangkok Post reported.

"Many people are still missing and their relatives have been trying in vain to search for their loved ones," journalist Puenkham Payakwong told the Bangkok Post by telephone from the Mai Sei district Sunday.

Payakwong estimated the death toll at 150 with several hundred injured.

The magnitude 6.8 quake that shook northeast Myanmar Thursday prompted the prime minister of neighboring Thailand to order a thorough evaluation of the nation's own earthquake plan.

The order included adding contingency plans for a potential tsunami along the coast, the Post said.