In Myanmar, earthquakes and air strikes intimidate the population

Miu Zo and his team were the volunteer rescue workers the first to arrive at the site, where a three -storey house collapsed in Mandalay, shortly after 8 pm on Saturday. They were digging through the rubble with their bare hands when they heard the girl’s voice.

It was dull but clear. “Help me, I’m here,” she said.

It took three or four hours to withdraw the 12 -year -old girl, who survived even though the house was falling around her. But in the early hours of Sunday morning, there was no silence except as the rescuers continued at nearly 100 degrees. In the end, they discovered three bodies: the mother of the girl and her grandparents.

“Unfortunately, I am afraid that we will find more bodies than the survivors.” “The heat in Mandalay is intense, causing rapid decomposition. In some cases, we define the identification of bodies only due to the smell.”

Time extends in Mandalay, the second largest city in Myanmar with about 1.5 million people, near the devastating earthquake center on Friday. In a neighborhood in Mandalay, countless buildings were reduced to ruins, and satellite images showed.

Throughout the country, more than 1,600 people were confirmed, starting on Saturday night, and more than 3000 people were wounded in the earthquake of Myanmar more than a century. Many people fear that the number of people who can save them will diminish after Monday evening, which is a mark of 72 decisive hours, and then experts say that the chances of survival are decreased sharply.

Although volunteer rescuers wandered around the ruins of homes, monasteries, mosques, hospitals that were flowing with patients, and final tremors – including one strong on Sunday – kept the residents on the edge of the abyss. Many buildings in Mandalay, which survived the Friday earthquake that overthrew Sunday.

The army made it clear that it would not stop a brutal bombing campaign in a civil war that destroyed the country despite the urgent need for relief efforts, with reports of an air strike on Sunday afternoon in the town of Bakuko in the Magui area in the northwest of the country, which killed two women and wounded seven others.

How can the military government and its supreme commander, chief of General Min Aung Hulang, a already unlucky leader, who toppled a civilian government four years ago, responds in the coming days and weeks, could determine the grip of the Military Council to power. The military government has already lost to the rebels in the civil war, which left nearly 20 million from about 54 million people in the country who need shelter and food even before the earthquake, according to United Nations officials.

In the first hours after the earthquake, a few machines and individuals hinder rescue operations. But the arrival of Chinese rescue teams with heavy equipment on Saturday night gave volunteers a glimmer of hope.

On Sunday, the volunteers saved 29 people from a residential building that collapsed in Mandalay and regained eight bodies, according to Soe Paing, a rescue worker from the Myanmar Fire Department. He said that help from the Chinese had started the work.

He said: “At the present time, we believe that about 90 people are still trapped inside, and we are doing everything we can get them out of life.”

Later in the day, the glossy gun hit Mandalay, sending residents to the streets, screaming in fear.

Many face an uncertain future, penetrate food, and wonder how they can get it without any power and rare water. Volunteers have requested more body bags for the corpses they pulled in the hour. Many said that the army did not do much to help.

Aid from other countries has started to reach, but there are still questions about how the Myanmar army is distributing the relief that is needed. At least half Dzina, including India, Malaysia, Russia, Singapore and Thailand, sent teams and supplies. Some aid, such as a group of Singapore and supplies from India, went to Naibidawo, the capital, where the army generals, which were less affected than Mandalay.

“They have a long record of using aid as a weapon,” said Scott Marcel, the American ambassador to Myanmar from 2016 to 2020. “I think they will try to use it to register aid to their supporters and prevent them from reaching people in the resistance -controlled areas. I have no belief that they will do the right thing.”

Baduh Tao Ni, spokesman for the rebel National Union Karen, said that the group welcomed the support of foreign countries, but warned against “realizing the nature of the army in our country.”

He pointed out that the army did not refrain from attacks even after the earthquake, saying: “They may use money for war. We are concerned about this issue.”

Myanmar control is now divided between the military regime, which governs urban areas and ethnic armies, who carry the border. Since the 2021 coup, SAGAING has appeared – another area that the earthquake was severely exposed to – as a resistance center and is home to a group of rebel groups. (The internet access was cut in the epic, which makes it difficult to get reports from there.)

An hour after an earthquake on Friday, Pyu Paraglider, the bombs in the village of Chaung Oo in SAGAING. She said: “People have already felt terrifying from the earthquake, and with chaos, it was impossible to cover up bombs.”

Army planes have continued to fly since the earthquake. “The military council does not care about the help of people,” said Ms. Vio Wayne. “They just want to kill.”

At one point last year, the rebels near Mandalay, which many saw as a possible turning point in the war.

Experts say the earthquake can change the course of the civil war. The National Unity Government, the shadow government in exile, called for a temporary stop for two weeks in the fighting, but it does not talk about the multiple rebel groups and the ethnic armies fighting government forces. Arakan’s strong army, which has received large parts of Rakhine State in Myanmar, can take advantage of this moment to correct the south of the country away from the Military Council.

Many will also rely on how General Min Aung Hang and his military vision at this moment.

“Their appearance on the wall and cannot overcome it,” said Khin Zu, a political analyst and director of the Tambada Institute, a research group in Yangon,. “We have reached the point where the army will have to decline.”

Richard Horsi, the Senior adviser in Myanmar, called for the International Crisis Group, the earthquake as “a moment of danger for Min Ong Hing.”

“It is really a critical moment for him and his legacy, as well as his current system,” said Mr. Horsi. “He does not know exactly how he will do this – it is difficult to guess – but he knows that there will be huge political tremors.”

Verina Hulazel Contribute to Bangkok reports.