Volunteers work at the site of a building that collapsed after an earthquake in Mandalay, central Myanmar, Saturday, March 29, 2025. - AP
BANGKOK: In Mandalay, Myanmar, near the epicentre of the quake that rocked the region, volunteer rescue workers raced against time as they combed through the ruins of apartments, monasteries and mosques to find survivors. Others struggled to come to terms with all they had lost.
Downed power lines, destroyed roads and a lack of equipment made rescue work even harder in a city already enduring a repressive military government and a civil war that is now in its fourth year.
“There are at least a hundred people still trapped inside,” said Thaw Zin, a volunteer who was sitting in front of a destroyed condominium. “We are trying our best with what we have.”
The earthquake, which struck about 12:50pm local time on March 28, was only the third of such magnitude to hit the region in the past century. The extent of the catastrophe remains enormous: The Myanmar military junta declared a state of emergency in six regions. These include rebel-controlled areas where there is little internet and millions of displaced people.
Su Wai Lin managed to escape with her husband and mother-in-law when the earthquake struck, but her husband ran back into their apartment building in Mandalay to save their 90-year-old neighbour.
Then the building collapsed, killing her husband and the neighbour.
“I can’t put into words the pain I feel,” said Su Wai Lin, who is six months pregnant, weeping as she spoke at a hospital. “My child will be born without a father. We may have survived physically, but our hearts and emotions are shattered.”
On March 29, the streets were jammed with ambulances that were heading to Pyin Oo Lwin, a town about a two-hour drive from Mandalay. The overcrowded hospitals in Mandalay were unable to accept more patients.
Tay Zar Lin was picking mangoes when the ground started shaking. He fell from the tree he was in, breaking his leg. At a hospital in Mandalay on March 28, no doctors were available, so he waited all night, in pain, and finally saw a doctor the next morning.
Tay Zar Lin, who got married last month, said he had just learnt that his wife was still trapped inside a collapsed building that houses the tailor shop where she works.
“I don’t know if she’s alive or not,” said Tay Zar Lin, whose leg is in a cast. “I pray that yesterday morning wasn’t the last time I saw her.”
He said that if Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s ousted and imprisoned civilian leader, were in charge now, “many trapped people would have been rescued, and unnecessary deaths could have been prevented”.
There was growing anger against the military, which seized power in a coup in February 2021. Thaw Zin, the volunteer rescuer, said soldiers and police officers had turned up but did nothing to help.
“They are here hanging around with their guns,” he said. “We don’t need guns. We need helping hands and kind hearts.”
By the morning, dozens of ordinary people from other cities in Myanmar had packed their cars and vans with supplies and headed into Mandalay, hoping to pitch in. Doctors from the nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement – the resistance movement against the junta – travelled from the rebel-held areas of Kayin, Tanintharyi and Lashioto to help, many of them returning to their hometown. Several international aid groups said they were rushing to the disaster sites.
“None of us are trained for earthquake rescues,” said Thein Win, a volunteer rescue worker who had rushed to the site of a destroyed condominium. “Yesterday, we found some survivors, but today, the chances are much lower.”
He said they urgently needed skilled rescue workers and heavy machinery such as excavators.
Eaint Thadar Phyu, 18, an English teacher in Mandalay, said she was on the second floor of the hostel where she was staying when the earthquake struck. She was hurrying to pack up some basic items such as her identification card when an aftershock hit.
“I thought I was going to die,” she said.
Eaint Thadar Phyu said she could not sleep on the night of March 28 because of a series of aftershocks. “I was scared they would turn into a huge one again.”
The scope of the death toll was still unclear, but the scale of the disaster was stark: Heaps of collapsed rubble, from monasteries to condominiums, dotted the landscape.
Mandalay, with a population of about 1.5 million, is Myanmar’s second-largest city. A former royal capital, it is known as a centre for Burmese culture and Buddhism, home to numerous temples, monasteries and pagodas.
On the morning of March 29, shaken residents gathered at hospitals and relief centres, and contemplated all that they had lost. Red tents were set up for rescue workers to rest in 100-degree heat. Residents talked about how their home had become a ruined city. Many were still walking around in tears.
Long lines formed at gas stations as people stocked up on fuel, preparing for days without power. - The New York Times
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