Hours after a massive earthquake flattened buildings on Myanmar’s Mandalay Island on Friday, survivors desperately tried to save those who were still trapped, but crawled in debris with their bare hands.

There are no heavy machinery to assist them, and in the absence of authorities, residents and rescue workers in the second largest city in Southeast Asia told Reuters They try to pull out the survivors to cry for help.

Htet Min Oo, 25, barely survived, capturing half of his body when a brick wall fell on him. He said his grandmother and two uncles were left under the debris of the building and he tried to clean it up in vain.

“There are too much rubble and no rescue team comes to us,” he said.

Myanmar has been in a state of crisis since 2021, when the military seized power from the democratically elected government, brutally suppressing protests and triggering an unprecedented armed uprising.

The humanitarian agency said Friday’s earthquake was 7.7 magnitude, killing more than 1,000 people, and the infrastructure was paralyzed and displaced during four years of military domination and civil war.

“A strong earthquake hit the country,” said Sheela Matthew, deputy director of the World Food Programme. “Myanmar cannot afford another disaster.”

Mohammed Riyas, director of the Myanmar International Rescue Commission, said people across the country were affected by “widespread violence” and that the health system was “overwhelmed by cholera and other disease outbreaks due to conflict.

“The additional pressure to meet the needs of those injured in an earthquake will put unparalleled pressure on the already stretched resources,” Riyas added.

A spokesperson for the Myanmar military government did not respond to a request for comment.

Foreign Minister of State Solidarity Government, parallel civilian government responsible for certain democratic forces told Reuters By phone, it will deploy anti-junta forces to aid disaster.

How dangerous

In January, the United Nations said the country faces “multiple dangers” of economic collapse, intensifying conflicts, climate hazards and deepening poverty. More than half of the people in the country have no access to electricity, and hospitals in conflict areas have been discontinued.

More than 3.5 million people are internally displaced, and in the battle between the military and armed groups, more and more armed groups have occupied many territories.

Fighting continued Friday, with military aircraft launching air strikes and drone strikes shortly after the earthquake in Karen State, according to relief group Free Burma Rangers.

“The loss of young people (the country) especially the important part of young people due to forced recruitment” would hinder the response to the disaster,” Nyi Nyi Kyaw, a Burmese scholar at Bristol University, wrote in a social media post.

“Cities and towns are abandoned by young people who have gone out on the streets and mobilized for rescue and relief work,” he said.

“In areas that are most severely affected by earthquakes, there is no normal operation – not to mention a legal government”, he said.

“We can’t do anything because we don’t have enough manpower and machines to remove debris,” a rescue worker attempted to free 140 monks from the ruins of the collapsed building in Mandalay Amalapura.

Still, he said: “We are not going to stop working.”

No help

Myanmar’s military government has issued a rare call for international aid, with disaster response teams from Russia, China, Singapore and India flying on Saturday.

But rights activists raised concerns about the aid not reaching the ground, as the regime has a history of relief from the part of the state controlled by opposition groups.

Thomas Andrews, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar, said in an article on X that the military’s response to recent hurricanes and typhoons showed its “willingness to use weapons assistance in natural disasters.”

Reuters The report said the junta scared aid agencies and suppressed information about the severe food crisis, forcing researchers not to collect data on hunger, thus putting the country in trouble.

Residents interviewed in Mandalay Reuters Said they have not received any help from the military authorities.

A rescuer said Saturday they borrowed machinery from the business to help sifter the rubble. He said they did not receive anything from the military government, but refused to elaborate because of fear of retribution.

Some residents have called for the use of machinery on Facebook.

Someone wrote that their family members were shattered under the ruins of the mosque, “we desperately wanted to restore their bodies.”

“We need to rent a crane to remove heavy concrete blocks. If anyone has information about where we can rent, please contact us.”