In the heart of Myanmar, where the Irrawaddy River winds like a dragon through fertile plains, stands Mandalay, the former royal capital, a crucible of the arts that for centuries was the cradle of the finest Buddha sculptors. Throughout the city's history, its temples have fallen into the hands of the British, eager to control the tea and cotton route, and have been bombed by the Japanese during World War II. Its saffron-robed monks have stood up to successive military regimes, leading historic rebellions, and more recently, many of them have embraced the latest coup leaders who destroyed the ongoing democratic experiment in a country now in the media spotlight due to a devastating earthquake.
The earthquake that struck Myanmar on Friday has been particularly brutal in Mandalay, the country's second-largest city, home to over a million people. According to the latest official figures released this Sunday by the Military Junta ruling since the 2021 coup, there are over 1,700 dead and 3,400 injured. These numbers continue to rise as rescue teams expand with numerous personnel sent mainly by friendly countries to the Burmese regime, such as China and Russia.
From Mandalay, just 17 kilometers from the earthquake's epicenter, where many buildings and temples were destroyed, images have emerged of local rescue teams digging with their own hands to free trapped victims. Many witnesses speak of hundreds of people buried under the rubble. The latest official figures reported 300 missing, likely well below the actual number. Thousands of residents have spent the last two nights outdoors out of fear of new aftershocks. The airport, which suffered severe damage, has suspended operations, and major roads were damaged, hindering the entry of aid convoys.
Fear persists in neighboring Thailand, also affected by the earthquake. In Bangkok, over 1,000 kilometers from the epicenter, the operation continues to try to find survivors (with 17 official deaths) among nearly a hundred workers buried under the rubble after a building collapse. The disaster's images in this city spread much faster than in Myanmar, where the military regime has blocked Western networks like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, or X.
This Sunday, the search for survivors entered its third day in the areas of Myanmar most affected by the major earthquake. On Saturday, amid all the anguish, there was a brief moment of local euphoria when a woman was rescued alive after being trapped for 30 hours under the rubble of a collapsed building in Mandalay, where many residents continue to protest the absence of rescue teams.
According to pro-democracy groups, the military junta allegedly first sent international brigades to the capital, Naypyitaw, where the Government headquarters are located, instead of quickly dispatching all aid to the hardest-hit areas of Mandalay and its surroundings.
In addition to Myanmar and Thailand, the earthquake was felt in Laos, China's Yunnan province, and the Vietnamese city of Ho Chi Minh. But nowhere else has the magnitude 7.7 tremor, which occurred along the Sagaing Fault - stretching from the coast to Myanmar's northern border - been as strong as in Mandalay.
"All temples and pagodas have collapsed," said a resident in a Facebook video showing the destruction in his neighborhood. "We continue to experience frequent power outages, and people are sleeping on the streets out of fear of returning to their homes," said Kyaw, another resident. "Rescue teams are not reaching many neighborhoods and villages. Many bodies still need to be recovered, such as those in a mosque that collapsed just after Friday prayers when many people were inside," lamented another resident, Myo Aung. Many residents, who are assisting in rescue operations, emphasize the urgent need for body bags and water.
Some Mandalay groups estimate around 500 people may be trapped in the mosque. Red Cross workers said on Saturday that over a hundred were also among the remains of a collapsed apartment block. In Kyaukse, a town near Mandalay, the bodies of 12 children and a teacher were found in the rubble of a school. Some reports suggest around 50 children and six teachers are still missing.
A rescue worker told Reuters on Saturday afternoon that his team was trying to free 140 monks from the ruins of a collapsed building in another Mandalay neighborhood. "We can't help because we don't have enough manpower or machinery to remove the rubble," he said.
In the country's central regions, many of the infrastructure that has collapsed was already damaged by four years of fighting in a civil war between the coup military and resistance groups. According to an assessment by the so-called National Unity Government, the exiled opposition, around 3,000 buildings, 30 roads, and seven bridges were destroyed.
The extent of the devastation only began to be glimpsed on Saturday when limited communications were restored in the hardest-hit areas. The tragedy unfolds as the military continues to launch airstrikes in declared emergency areas against pro-democracy resistance groups.
After Mandalay, the second most affected city appears to be Naypyitaw, with around 100 official deaths. Pro-democracy opposition and ethnic militias have stated that in the territories they control, in the isolated border regions with China and Thailand, there has been no major damage.
Nyi Nyi Kyaw, a Burmese academic at the University of Bristol, pointed out that the disaster response is very slow due to the lack of young men in the cities, as many have been recruited by the military. "Cities and towns are deserted, without young men who would have previously taken to the streets and mobilized to help in rescue efforts," he said.
The leader of the Military Junta, Min Aung Hlaing, who called for international aid after the earthquake, reiterated yesterday the need for more blood donations in overwhelmed hospitals in Mandalay and its surroundings. In addition to rescue teams, China has sent medical supplies, as have other South Asian neighbors like Singapore, Malaysia, and India. The World Health Organization (WHO) announced it was mobilizing its logistics center in Dubai to send more medical supplies to Myanmar.
Donald Trump offered his country's assistance despite the fact that the disaster relief program, which has operated in Myanmar for many years, cannot be deployed due to the dismantling of the US foreign aid agency, USAID.
"The cracks and deformations on the surface forced road buses to suspend their operations," a report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs stated this weekend. The agency highlights a severe shortage of medical supplies, including blood bags and anesthetics. "Up to 20 million people live in the severely affected earthquake areas, many now living without shelter or access to clean water."
In the capital, Naypyitaw, the main airport remains closed after the earthquake destroyed the control tower, leaving at least six dead. This country is in an active seismic belt, although many tremors occur in sparsely populated areas, not in more crowded cities like those affected. The US Geological Survey, a US government scientific agency, estimated that the death toll could exceed 10,000.
"In Myanmar, there are 3.6 million internally displaced persons due to the civil war, many of whom were already facing difficulties due to the ongoing conflict," a statement from UNHCR points out. "The earthquake's most affected areas, central and northwest Myanmar, are home to 1.6 million displaced persons."