Bangkok, Mandalay – Myanmar rescue workers are struggling to save people trapped under the tiled ble of a collapsed building in the country’s second largest city.
As a result of Friday’s trembling, every street in the city collapsed buildings. Distraught residents wait outside damaged flat homes and businesses for assistance from rescuers and government, but have not yet arrived.
The 45-year-old Mandalay resident Thunder told Al Jazeera that his 6-year-old son was trapped under the fallen debris and trapped in his broken pelvis.
Sandar Win said she took the boy to Mandalay General Hospital, but they turned their backs as the facility became overcrowded with the earthquake victims.
“So we had to go to a private hospital. He’s in the operating room now,” Thunder Wynn said. “He is our only child. My heart wants to see my son like this.”
Shops, restaurants and tea shops are closed, with crowds at gas stations in Mandalay. With more than 1.5 million cities delivering electricity, some people need fuel from generators.
The ambulance speeds in the direction of Pyin Oo Lwin, a town located on a scenic hill about 64km (40 miles) east of Mandalay, making it popular with foreign tourists and visitors from other parts of Myanmar.
Rescue officer Wy Fio said the search and recovery team was doing their best, but was overwhelmed by the scale of the destruction and the lack of “proper equipment.”
“Many people are still trapped under the wreckage. We want them to come to life, but the hope isn’t that bright,” Wai Fio told Al Jazeera, adding that communication is also an issue, as there is little telephone line and internet access is almost impossible.
Myanmar’s troops sent troops to affected areas, but “they haven’t helped,” Wai Fio said.
“It’s not necessary here,” he said. “We need proper assistance.”
Reuters also reported that Mandalay rescuers had to help turn the debris because they had to borrow machines from private companies, and that some residents had taken them to Facebook to ask for donations of equipment to help with rescue operations.
Al Jazeera’s Tony Chen reported from Mandalay that Al Jazeera’s Tony Chen said that as the time window to save survivors is recovering, rescue operations in the city are beginning to turn into recovery.
“I was just talking to the fire chief who is leading the operation on the revised figures of 1,000 deaths across Myanmar, and he said there are 1,000 bodies in this city alone.
“24 hours a day”
In Bangkok, the Thai capital, rescue operations focus on a collapsed 30-storey building. The 30-storey building is under construction at the time of the earthquake, and is believed to have been abandoned by dozens of workers.
At least 10 people died in Bangkok on Friday despite the city being more than 1,000 km (620 miles) from the Myanmar epicenter.
“It’s difficult to find a missing person,” said Atticom Watkoson, a rescue worker at the scene, on what will happen to the Multi-Story Government building in Bangkok’s Chatuchak district.
Atikom Watkoson told Al Jazeera that searches are complicated by the fact that there are no clear signs when an estimated 47 missing workers collapse within the building.
However, signs of survivors were detected and heavy machinery was brought in to clean up the pile of wreckage from the property, he said.
Still, “There’s a lot of work left to go through,” added Atikom Watkoson.
All over Bangkok, engineers and government officials are currently examining the integrity of hundreds of skyscrapers in the city, with many high-rise residents reporting cracks in the walls and floors.
“It’s all the skyscrapers in Bangkok’s city centre,” said Sirin Hiranthanakasem, a resident of the capital who went down 23 flights of flights in the wake of the earthquake and was currently staying at the hotel.
“If something falls apart, we won’t survive,” she said.
Bangkok’s Metropolitan administration has opened an online portal for people in the capital to report damage to the buildings.
Despite the chaos caused by Friday’s earthquake and Bangkok authorities declared the city a disaster zone, the Thai capital soon returned to normal, with the city’s airport working, the light rail system running, and most shops and restaurants running.
Still, Thailand’s deputy prime minister, Anutin Charungvirakul, said all possible resources have been deployed to search for survivors on the building’s premises and recover the bodies of the deceased.
“We always have hope,” he told reporters about the potential for workers to be alive.
“We’re still working 24 hours a day.”
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