The smell of decaying remains permeated the streets of Myanmar’s second largest city on Sunday. People were working by hand to clean up the tile rub in the hopes of finding someone still alive two days after the major earthquake that killed more than 1,600 people and left countless people buried there.
The 7.7 magnitude tremor occurred on Friday, with the epicenter near Mandalay, knocking down the building’s scores and damaging other infrastructure, including the city’s airport.
Relief efforts have been hampered by the challenges of buckling roads, fallen bridges, uneven communication and operating in a country in the midst of civil war.
Searches for survivors are primarily carried out by local residents without the help of heavy equipment, and only occasionally tracked excavators can be seen, using hand-moving tiled rubs and using shovels with heat of 41 degrees Celsius (106 Fahrenheit).
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The aftershock of 5.1 pm on Sunday magnitude spurred screams from people on the streets, followed by work.
Many of Mandalay’s 1.5 million people spent the night on the streets, leaving them homeless due to earthquakes, shaking nearby Thailand, killing at least 18 people there, or worried that the structure could remain unstable.
Not reaching many areas yet
To date, 1,644 people have been reported to have died in Myanmar and 3,408 injured, but many areas have not yet reached it, and so far many rescue operations have been carried out by people who work by hand to clear out the tiled rubber.
“It was mainly local volunteers and locals trying to find their loved one,” Bragg said after the brining after a briefing from her colleagues in Mandalay.
“We’ve seen reports that some countries are currently sending search and rescue teams to Mandalay to support their efforts, but hospitals are really struggling to deal with the influx of injured people.
The organization was able to send teams on Road on Sunday to assess people’s most pressing needs and target their own responses.
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All commercial flights to the city were closed as Mandalay Airport was damaged and Control Tower collapsed at the airport in the capital Nepitau.
Official relief efforts at Naypitaw prioritized housing for government agencies and staff, local people and aid groups digging tiled rubs with their hands in residential areas, the hot sun fell and the smell of death in the air.
A team sent from nearby China rescued an elderly man who had been locked up for nearly 40 hours under a tile ble at Naypitaw Hospital, and many others are believed to be still buried, the official Xinhua Conference reported.
The rescuer works at a Sky Villa Condominium that was collapsed by the Friday earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar on Sunday, March 30, 2025 (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)
Myanmar sits at the Sagar fault, the main north-south fault separating the Indian and Sunda plates.
The earthquake occurred when a 200-kilometer (125-mile) section of the fault burst, causing extensive damage along the broad territories of the central part of the country, including Sagar, Mandalay, Magway, Bago region and Shan Province.
Due to the widespread telecommunications outage, there has been little detail so far from the major urban areas of Mandalay and Nepitau.
Foreign aid begins to arrive in Myanmar
Still, according to the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, two Indian C-17 military aircraft were able to land in Naypitaw with local hospital units and around 120 staff. Other Indian supplies flew to Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city. This was a hub for other foreign relief efforts.
On Sunday, a fleet of 17 Chinese cargo trucks carrying important shelters and medical supplies was expected to reach Mandalay after a painstaking journey from Yangon on the road.
The 650-kilometer (400-mile) journey takes over 14 hours, with traffic clogged from the main highway due to skirt damage caused by the earthquake.
The photo, released by Xinhua News Agency, prepares to conduct a search and rescue on Sunday, March 30, 2025, at the building after the collapse of the Mandalay earthquake in Myanmar.
At the same time, the window of opportunity to find a living person is closing rapidly. Most rescues occur within the first 24 hours after a disaster, and then the chances of survival decrease as each day passes.
The first report on earthquake relief efforts issued on Saturday to coordinate the UN Humanitarian Affairs noted the serious damage or destruction of many medical facilities, warning that “serious shortages of medical supplies are hampering response efforts such as trauma kits, blood bags, anesthetics, support devices, and essential medicines for healthcare workers.”
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China said it had sent over 135 rescue personnel and experts with supplies such as medical kits and generators, and pledged about $13.8 million in emergency aid. Russia’s Ministry of Emergency has said it has fed 120 rescuers and supplies to Yangon, while the country’s health ministry said Moscow has sent medical teams to Myanmar.
The Singapore team is already working for Naypitaw. Malaysia dispatched a team of 50 people on Sunday in trucks, search and rescue devices and medical supplies.
According to Thailand, 55 soldiers arrived in Yangon on Sunday to support search and rescue operations, and the UK has announced a $13 million aid package to help local funded partners already in Myanmar respond to the crisis.
Eighteen people reported deaths in Thailand
In nearby Thailand, an earthquake shook most of the country, knocking down a skyscraper under construction in Bangkok, about 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) from the epicenter.
So far, 11 people have been found to have died at a construction site near the popular Chatuchak market. So far, a total of 18 people have been reportedly killed by the Thai earthquake.
Rescue operations in Myanmar have been complicated by civil war
In Myanmar, also known as Burma, rescue operations so far have focused on Mandalay and Nepaitau. Mandalay and Nepaitau are considered the most significant, but many other areas have also been affected, with little known so far about the damage there.
In this photo, released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese rescuers will see the collapsed buildings before conducting an earthquake search and rescue operation in Mandalay, Myanmar on Sunday, March 30, 2025 (Myo Kyaw Soe/Xinhua via AP)
“We’ve heard reports of hundreds of people trapped in different areas,” Bragg said. “Now we are 1,600 (known deaths), and we don’t have much data, but we need to assume that it will increase in thousands based on what the impact is. This is anecdotal information at this point.”
Beyond earthquake damage, rescue efforts are complicated by the bloody civil war that strikes most of the country, including areas affected by the earthquake. In 2021, the military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, causing what has since turned into a significant armed resistance.
Government forces have lost control of many Myanmar, and many places are dangerous or impossible for aid groups to reach. According to the United Nations, more than 3 million people have been evacuated to the battle, and nearly 20 million people are in trouble.
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Government forces are fighting the aging militia and the defence forces of newly formed democratic people, significantly limiting much needed assistance efforts to the large population already displaced by war even before the earthquake.
The military attack continued with reports of air strikes on Friday and mortar and drone attacks on Saturday.
People are working in a Sky Villa Condominium that was destroyed by Friday’s earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar on Sunday, March 30, 2025.
Myanmar’s rights monitor Tom Andrews, commissioned by the non-supporting human rights council, asked the military to immediately call a ceasefire.
“Aidance workers don’t need to be afraid of arrests and there should be no interference to help them get to where they need them most,” he said in X.
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Rising and Peck reported from Bangkok. Jintamas Saksornchai in Bangkok, Simina Mistreanu in Taipei, Taiwan, and Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia contributed to this report.
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The Associated Press revised the story to show that the military seized power in 2021 rather than 2001.
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