In Mandalay, near the epicenter of the quake that rocked the region, volunteer rescue workers raced against time as they combed through the ruins of apartments, monasteries and mosques to find survivors. Others struggled to come to terms with all they had lost.
Downed power lines, destroyed roads and a lack of equipment made rescue work even harder in a city already enduring a repressive military government and a civil war that is now in its fourth year.
“There are at least a hundred people still trapped inside,” said Thaw Zin, a volunteer who was sitting in front of a destroyed condominium. “We are trying our best with what we have.”
The earthquake, which struck at about 12:50 p.m. Friday local time, was only the third of such magnitude to hit the region in the past century. The extent of the catastrophe remains enormous: the Myanmar military junta declared a state of emergency in six regions. These include rebel-controlled areas where there is little internet and millions of displaced people.
Su Wai Lin managed to escape with her husband and mother-in-law when the earthquake struck, but her husband ran back into their apartment building in Mandalay to save their 90-year-old neighbor.
Then the building collapsed, killing her husband and the neighbor.
“I can’t put into words the pain I feel,” said Ms. Su Wai Lin, who is six months pregnant, weeping as she spoke at a hospital. “My child will be born without a father. We may have survived physically, but our hearts and emotions are shattered.”
On Saturday, the streets were jammed with ambulances that were heading to Pyin Oo Lwin, a town about a two-hour drive from Mandalay. The overcrowded hospitals in Mandalay were unable to accept more patients.
Tay Zar Lin was picking mangoes when the ground started shaking. He fell from the tree he was in, breaking his leg. At a hospital in Mandalay on Friday, no doctors were available, so he waited all night, in pain, and finally saw a doctor Saturday morning.
Mr. Tay Zar Lin, who got married last month, said he had just learned that his wife was still trapped inside a collapsed building that houses the tailor shop where she works.
“I don’t know if she’s alive or not,” said Mr. Tay Zar Lin, whose leg is in a cast. “I pray that yesterday morning wasn’t the last time I saw her.”
He said that if Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s ousted and imprisoned civilian leader, were in charge now, “many trapped people would have been rescued, and unnecessary deaths could have been prevented.”
There was growing anger against the military, which seized power in a coup in February 2021. Mr. Thaw Zin, the volunteer rescuer, said soldiers and police officers had turned up but did nothing to help.
“They are here hanging around with their guns,” he said. “We don’t need guns, we need helping hands and kind hearts.”
By Saturday morning, dozens of ordinary people from other cities in Myanmar had packed their cars and vans with supplies and headed into Mandalay, hoping to pitch in. Doctors from the nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement — the resistance movement against the junta — traveled from the rebel-held areas of Kayin, Tanintharyi and Lashioto to help, many of them returning to their hometown. Several international aid groups said they were rushing to the disaster sites.
“None of us are trained for earthquake rescues,” said Ko Thein Win, a volunteer rescue worker who had rushed to the site of a destroyed condominium. “Yesterday, we found some survivors, but today, the chances are much lower.”
He said they urgently needed skilled rescue workers and heavy machinery such as excavators.
Eaint Thadar Phyu, 18, an English teacher in Mandalay, said she was on the second floor of the hostel where she was staying when the earthquake struck. She was hurrying to pack up some basic items such as her identification card when an aftershock hit.
“I thought I was going to die,” she said.
Ms. Eaint Thadar Phyu said she couldn’t sleep Friday night because of a series of aftershocks. “I was scared they would turn into a huge one again.”
The scope of the death toll was still unclear, but the scale of the disaster was stark: heaps of collapsed rubble, from monasteries to condominiums, dotted the landscape.
Mandalay, with a population of about 1.5 million, is Myanmar’s second-largest city. A former royal capital, it is known as a center for Burmese culture and Buddhism, home to numerous temples, monasteries and pagodas.
On Saturday morning, shaken residents gathered at hospitals and relief centers, and contemplated all that they had lost. Red tents were set up for rescue workers to rest in 100-degree heat. Residents talked about how their home had become a ruined city. Many were still walking around in tears.
Long lines formed at gas stations as people stocked up on fuel, preparing for days without power.
Verena Hölzl contributed reporting.