In the hours following a massive earthquake that flattened buildings in Myanmar’s Mandalay on Friday, survivors desperately sifted through the debris with their bare hands in attempts to rescue those still trapped.
Lacking heavy machinery and with authorities largely absent, residents and rescue workers in the Southeast Asian country’s second-largest city told Reuters they were struggling to extract survivors crying out for help.
Htet Min Oo, 25, narrowly survived after a brick wall collapsed on him, trapping half his body. He reported that his grandmother and two uncles remained buried under the rubble of a building, which he tried in vain to clear with his hands.
“There’s too much rubble, and no rescue teams have come for us,” he said, breaking down in tears.
Myanmar has been in crisis since the 2021 military coup, which ousted the elected government, brutally suppressed protests, and ignited an unprecedented armed uprising.
Humanitarian agencies emphasize that Friday’s 7.7-magnitude earthquake, which has claimed over 1,000 lives, struck the country at a highly vulnerable time, following four years of military rule and civil war that has crippled infrastructure and displaced millions.
“The powerful earthquake hit the country at the worst possible time,” said Sheela Matthew, deputy country director for the World Food Program, in a statement. “Myanmar just can’t afford another disaster.”
Mohammed Riyas, Myanmar director for the International Rescue Committee, stated that people across the country are affected by “widespread violence,” and the health system has been “decimated by conflict, overwhelmed by outbreaks of cholera and other diseases.”
“The added stress of meeting the needs of those injured in the earthquake is going to cause unparalleled strain on already stretched resources,” Riyas added.
A spokesperson for Myanmar’s junta did not respond to requests for comment.
The foreign minister of the National Unity Government, the parallel civilian government overseeing some pro-democracy forces, told Reuters by phone that it would deploy anti-junta troops to assist with disaster relief efforts.
In January, the United Nations declared that the country was facing a “polycrisis” characterized by economic collapse, intensifying conflict, climate hazards, and deepening poverty. More than half the country lacks access to electricity, and hospitals in conflict zones are non-operational.
Over 3.5 million people have been internally displaced, and many more have fled across borders due to fighting between the military and various armed groups that have seized control of vast territories.
Fighting continued on Friday, with military jets launching airstrikes and drone attacks shortly after the earthquake in Karen state, near the headquarters of a major ethnic armed group, according to the Free Burma Rangers, a relief organization.
Nyi Nyi Kyaw, a Myanmar academic at Bristol University, wrote in a social media post that the loss of a “significant portion of (the country’s) youth, particularly young men, due to forced conscription” into the military would impede disaster response efforts.
“Cities and towns stand deserted by young men who would have once taken to the streets and mobilized for rescue and relief efforts,” he stated.
He also noted that there is “no properly functioning – let alone legitimate – government in the regions most severely affected by the earthquake.”
A rescue worker attempting to free 140 monks from the ruins of a collapsed building in Amarapura, Mandalay, said, “we cannot help because we do not have enough manpower and machines to remove the debris.”
Nonetheless, he affirmed, “we will not stop working.”
Myanmar’s junta has issued a rare appeal for international aid, and disaster response teams from Russia, China, Singapore, and India are arriving on Saturday.
However, rights activists have raised concerns that aid will not reach those in need, given the regime’s history of blocking relief to opposition-held areas.
Thomas Andrews, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, stated on X that the military’s response to a recent cyclone and typhoon demonstrated its “willingness to weaponize aid in the midst of natural disasters.”
Reuters reported in December that the junta intimidated aid agencies and suppressed information about a severe food crisis by pressuring researchers not to collect hunger data.
In Mandalay, residents interviewed by Reuters reported receiving no assistance from military authorities.
One rescue worker said on Saturday that they had borrowed machinery from businesses to assist with sifting through the rubble. He declined to elaborate further for fear of reprisal.
Some residents have taken to Facebook to appeal for machinery.
One post stated that family members had been crushed under the rubble of a mosque and “we desperately want to recover their bodies.”
“We need to rent a crane to remove the heavy concrete blocks. If anyone has information on where we can rent one, please contact us,” they wrote.
