Myanmar's deadliest natural disaster in years has strengthened the position of ruling general Min Aung Hlaing, by opening diplomatic channels closed for four years after his junta ousted an elected government to unleash a brutal civil war.

Myanmar's ruling junta should free up movement by international aid workers to help survivors of a devastating earthquake, even in areas controlled by groups battling it, aid and human rights groups said,

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.