The hopes of finding survivors in Myanmar are less likely to be as long as people even try to clean the ruins with their hands, hoping to find someone alive, two days after the devastating earthquake that claimed life to more than 1,600 people and left.

The magnitude of 7.7 Richter occurred on Friday afternoon, focusing close to Mandalei, leveling dozens of buildings and causing damage to other infrastructure, such as the city’s airport.

Aid is not possible in many areas due to dissolved roads, damaged bridges and difficulties involved in a country in civil war.

Survivors are mainly carried out by locals, without the help of heavy equipment, moving the ruins with hands and shovels at temperatures reaching 41 degrees Celsius.

A 5.1 -magnitude aftershock on Sunday afternoon caused terror, but then rescue efforts continued.

Many of the 1.5 million inhabitants of Mandalei crossed the streets at night, either because they were left homeless from the earthquake – who also hit neighboring Thailand, killing at least 18 people there – or fearing that the ongoing aftershocks could cause it.

Impossible to access many areas

So far, 1,644 dead and 3,408 injured in Myanmar have been reported, but many areas have not yet been approached, and most rescue efforts are being made with their hands as people are trying to remove the ruins, said Kara Brag, in charge of Catholic Relief Services.

“Mostly they are local volunteers, people trying to find their loved ones,” Brag said, after an information received from her colleague in Mandalei.

“I have also seen reports that some countries are sending research and rescue teams to Mandalei to support efforts, but hospitals find it difficult to deal with the large number of wounded, there is a shortage of medical supplies and people are struggling to find food and clean water,” he added.
The organization sent a group by road on Sunday to evaluate people’s most urgent needs so that it could better aim its response.

With Mandalei Airport suffered damage and the control tower at the capital of the capital Nipito collapsing, all commercial flights to cities have been interrupted.

Official support efforts in Neipito prioritize government agencies and housing of employees, leaving locals and humanitarian organizations digging with their hands in the ruins of residential areas, under the hot sun and with the smell of death.

A group from neighboring China rescued an elderly man who had been trapped for almost 40 hours under the ruins of a hospital in Nepito, and is believed to be buried, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

Myanmar is located on the Sagaing rift, a large rift extending from north to south and separates the Indian plate from the Sunda plate.

The earthquake occurred when a part of the 200 kilometers (125 miles) rift suffered a rupture, causing extensive catastrophes in a large area extending in the center of the country, including Sagaing, Mandalay, Magway and Bago, as well as the State Shan.

Due to the extensive telecommunications lesions, so far there is little information from areas outside the large mandate and Nepito urban centers.

18 dead in Thailand

In neighboring Thailand, the earthquake shook much of the country, causing the collapse of a tall building under construction in Bangkok, about 1,300 kilometers from the focus.

So far, 11 people have been found dead at the construction site near the popular Chatuchak market. In total, 18 people have been reported as dead in Thailand because of the earthquake.

Rescue attempts in Myanmar are complicated by the civil war

In Myanmar, also known as Burma, rescue efforts have been focused on Mandalei and Nipito so far, which are considered the most affected areas, but many others have been affected and few have so far known about the size of the damage there.

“We hear reports of hundreds of people trapped in different areas,” Brag said. “At the moment we are at 1,600 confirmed deaths and we do not have much data, but we must assume that the number will increase by thousands, based on the consequences. This is just fragmentary information right now. “

In addition to the damage of the earthquake, rescue efforts are complicated by the bloody civil war that sweeps much of the country, including the earthquake -stricken areas.

In 2021, the army seized power by the democratically elected Aung government San Chi, triggering an extensive armed resistance.

Government forces have lost control of large parts of Myanmar, and many areas are dangerous or impossible to reach out to humanitarian organizations. According to the United Nations, over 3 million people have been displaced due to conflict and almost 20 million need humanitarian aid.

The government army is fighting both armed organizations and the newly established pro -democratic forces of popular defense and has imposed strict restrictions on the distribution of humanitarian aid, which was already incomplete for the displaced population before the earthquake.

Military attacks continued with air raids on Friday and reports on attacks with row and drones on Saturday.

Tom Andrew, a UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Myanmar, called on the army to declare a ceasefire immediately.

“Humanitarian workers should not be afraid of arrest and there should be no obstacles to distributing help where it is more necessary,” he wrote on the X platform. “Every minute counts”.