Volunteer rescuers in Mandalay revive through the ruins of the earthquake

In Mandalay, near the earthquake center that shook the area, volunteer rescue workers raced over time while combing them by rubble apartments, monasteries and mosques to find the survivors. Others struggled to reconcile with everything he lost.

The destroyed electricity generation lines, destroyed roads and the lack of equipment have made the rescue work more difficult in a city already carrying a repressive military government and a civil war that is now in its fourth year.

“There is still at least a hundred people trapped at home,” said Tho Zain, a volunteer who was sitting in front of devastating buildings. “We are doing our best to what we have.”

The earthquake, which was struck around 12:50 pm local time on Friday, was the third of this size that struck the area in the last century. The extent of the disaster is still huge: The Myanmar Military Council declared a state of emergency in six regions. These include rebel -controlled areas where there are few internet and millions of displaced people.

Soo Way Lynn managed to escape with her husband and father when he hit the earthquake, but her husband ran to his apartment building in Mandalay to save his 90 -year -old neighbor.

Then the building collapsed, killing her husband and the neighbor.

“I can’t put in the words I feel,” said Ms. Soo Way Lynn, who is six months pregnant as she was crying in the hospital. “My child will be born without a father. Maybe we have survived physically, but our hearts and emotions are broken.”

On Saturday, the streets were jammed with ambulances that were heading to Ben -Loulene, a city two hours drive from Mandalay. Mandalay crowded hospitals were unable to accept more patients.

Tai visited Lynn choosing a mango when the Earth started shaking. He fell from the tree in which he was, broke his leg. At a hospital in Mandalay on Friday, no doctors were available, so he waited all night, and finally, and the doctor watched on Saturday morning.

Mr. Tae Zar Lin, who married last month, said that he had just learned that his wife was still besieged inside a rivers building that includes the Khayat store where she works.

“I don’t know whether she is alive or not,” said Mr. Tae Zar Lin, who was her leg in the actors’ team. “I pray that yesterday morning was not the last time I saw it.”

He said that if Dow Aung San Suu, who was toppled by the imprisoned civil leader, was now responsible, “it could have been saved by many people detained, and it was possible to prevent unnecessary deaths.”

There was increased anger against the army, who seized power in a coup in February 2021. THW Zin said that the volunteers rescue that the soldiers and police officers appeared but they did nothing to help.

He said: “Here they are hanging in their rifles.” “We do not need weapons, we need the help of gentle hands and hearts.”

By Saturday morning, dozens of ordinary people from other cities in Myanmar mobilized their cars and trucks with supplies and went to Mandalay, hoping to pass. Several international relief groups said they were rushing to disaster sites.

“None of us was trained to save earthquakes,” said Ko Thin Wayne, a volunteer rescue worker who rushed to a destroyed buildings. “Yesterday, we found some survivors, but today, opportunities are much lower.”

He said that they urgently need skilled rescue workers and heavy machines such as excavators.

Eaint Thadar Phyu, 18, an English teacher in Mandalay, said she was on the second floor of the youth house where she was staying when the earthquake was hit. She was in a hurry to firmness of some basic elements such as her identity card when she struck the final tremor.

She said, “I thought I would die.”

Mrs. Thardar Phyu said she could not sleep on Friday night due to a series of final tremors. “I was afraid that they would turn into a huge one again.”

The scope of the death toll was still unclear, but the scale of the disaster was blatant: piles of collapsed rubble, from monasteries to residential units, created the scene.

Mandalay, with a population of about 1.5 million people, is the second largest city in Myanmar. A previous royal capital, known as a center of Burmese and Buddhist culture, is the home of many temples, monasteries and monasteries.

On Saturday morning, the population gathered in hospitals and relief centers, and think about everything they lost. Red tents were created for rescue workers to rest at 100 degrees. Residents talked about how their home became a destroyed city. Many were still wandering in crying.

Long lines were formed at gas stations while people store fuel, and they are preparing for days without energy.

Verina Hulazel The reports contributed.