In disaster-stricken Myanmar, a desperate bid to rescue survivors with bare hands

Bangkok: In the hours after a massive earthquake flattened buildings in Myanmar's Mandalay on Friday, survivors scrambled through the debris using their bare hands in desperate attempts to save those still trapped.

Without heavy machinery to assist them and with authorities absent, a resident and rescue workers in the Southeast Asian country's second-largest city told Reuters that they were struggling to pull out survivors crying out for help.

Htet Min Oo, 25, barely survived when a brick wall collapsed on him, trapping half of his body. He told Reuters his grandmother and two uncles remained under the debris 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 into tears.

Myanmar has been in crisis since 2021, when the military seized power from an elected government, brutally crushing protests and sparking an unprecedented armed uprising.

Humanitarian agencies say Friday’s quake, which measured 7.7 magnitude and has killed more than 1,000 people, has come at a vulnerable moment for the country, after 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," Sheela Matthew, deputy country director for the World Food Program, said in a statement. "Myanmar just can't afford another disaster."

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", said Mohammed Riyas, Myanmar director for the International Rescue Committee.

"The added stress of meeting the needs of those who have been 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 that oversees some pro-democracy forces, told Reuters by phone it would deploy anti-junta troops to help with disaster efforts.

Polycrisis

In January, the United Nations said the country was facing a "polycrisis" marked by economic collapse, intensifying conflict, climate hazards and deepening poverty. More than half of the country lacks access to electricity, and hospitals in conflict zones are out of service.

More than 3.5 million people have been internally displaced and many more driven across the borders amid fighting between the military and a mosaic of armed groups that have seized control of vast swathes of territory.

Fighting continued on Friday, with military jets launching airstrikes and drone attacks shortly after the quake in Karen state, near the headquarters of one of the largest ethnic armed groups, according to the Free Burma Rangers, a relief organisation.

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 hinder the disaster response.

"Cities and towns stand deserted by young men who would have once taken to the streets and mobilised for rescue and relief efforts," he said.

There is "no properly functioning - let alone legitimate - government in the regions most severely affected by the earthquake", he said.

A rescue worker trying to free 140 monks from the ruins of a collapsed building in Amarapura, Mandalay, told Reuters, "we cannot help because we do not have enough manpower and machines to remove the debris".

Nonetheless, he said, "we will not stop working".

No Help

Myanmar’s junta has issued a rare appeal for international aid, and disaster response teams from Russia, China, Singapore and India flying in on Saturday.

But rights activists raised fears that aid would not reach people on the ground, as the regime has a history of blocking relief to parts of the country controlled by opposition groups.

Thomas Andrews, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, said in a post on X that the military’s response to a recent cyclone and typhoon showed 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 gripping the country by pressuring researchers not to collect data about hunger.

In Mandalay, residents interviewed by Reuters said they had not yet received any assistance from military authorities.

One rescue worker said on Saturday they had borrowed machinery from businesses to help sift through the rubble. He said they had received nothing from the military government but declined to elaborate for fear of retribution.

Some residents were appealing for machinery on Facebook.

One wrote that members of their family 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.