Voices are starting to emerge from quake-devastated Myanmar. Here’s what we are hearing

(CNN) — A powerful, deadly earthquake struck at the heart of civil war-ravaged Myanmar on Friday, piling fresh misery on an impoverished nation that was cut off from much of the world even before this natural disaster struck.

The timing could hardly be worse. The Southeast Asian country is reeling from a raging civil war between a military junta that seized power in 2021, and pro-democracy fighters and ethnic rebel groups battling to overthrow it.

The war – now in its fifth year – has ravaged communications and transport in Myanmar, making it particularly difficult to get a clear picture of the damage.

The country’s military government says more than 1,600 people have died so far. But experts fear the real toll will be far higher and could take weeks to emerge.

Here’s what we know so far.

A historic city hit hardest

On Saturday fragments emerged showing the destruction wrought by the quake from former royal capital Mandalay, home to around 1.5 million people and the city closest to its epicenter.

Residents of the city known for its Buddhist monasteries and a sprawling palace told CNN of homes, offices, mosques and monasteries collapsing and roads to the city ruptured by the quake – which unleashed energy equivalent to “334 atomic bombs,” according to one geologist.

And they spoke of desperately rushing injured loved ones to medical care – or the agonizing wait for news of friends still missing or trapped under the rubble.

CNN managed to reach one woman living in Mandalay who recalled the terrifying moment a family member was buried by rubble. She asked not to be named.

“It hit very strong and very fast,” she said of the earthquake. She recalled she was boiling water to make milk for her baby when the 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck not far from her home to the east of the city.

Part of the wall of the house collapsed onto the woman’s grandmother who was sitting nearby, burying her legs in rubble and debris, she said.

“The door couldn’t open as a fence had collapsed onto it. I shouted out for help and my husband came in from the street. He jumped on the door and managed to open it.”

A former lawyer in the city, who did not want to give his name, told CNN three members of his wife’s family had been killed in the quake.

“Until now, we have not been able to recover their dead bodies from rubble,” he said.

The quake also shattered some of the city’s mosques which were busy with worshippers attending Friday prayers, one man said.

“When the buildings collapsed, many Muslims got trapped inside, causing casualties and deaths… In one mosque, there are more than a hundred injured.”

Across the mighty Irrawaddy river that runs past Mandalay, there is also destruction in Sagaing region, a more rural area, where many live in more flimsy – but more earthquake-survivable – wooden and thatched houses.

Nang Aye Yin, 34, heard news that the nunnery where a relative of his was studying had collapsed.

“Luckily no one died, but two were badly wounded. One of my nieces aged 11 lost three toes and another nun had her head broken as well as one of her legs.”

Hospitals in both Sagaing and Mandalay turned them away as they were already at full capacity, he said.

Meanwhile, civilians and rescue teams have been raising complaints that a shortage of heavy machinery, as well as a lack of assistance from the military government, have been hampering rescue efforts.

Civilians in Mandalay say they have instead resorted to scrambling through the dirt with their bare hands to look for survivors. “There’s too much rubble, and no rescue teams have come for us,” one survivor told Reuters.

A rare call for outside help

Myanmar’s military junta seized power in a 2021 coup after a brief 10-year experiment with democracy. Before that, Myanmar’s generals ruled for decades. And generally, whenever disaster struck, they would eschew foreign help and play down the impact.

This time it’s different.

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing took the unusual step of quickly asking for foreign aid. He visited the city of Mandalay on Saturday to inspect the damage, state media reported, as well as the capital Naypyidaw which was also hit hard.

On Saturday several neighboring countries began sending rescue teams and aid.

A team from China – historically one of the junta’s closest partners – was the first to arrive, touching down in Myanmar’s commercial hub Yangon bringing relief supplies, Chinese state media said.

Singapore, Malaysia, India and Russia also announced they would send help.

But for those in quake-stricken Mandalay, around 380 miles away and with transportation uncertain, the wait was driving them mad.

“My head is going to explode while waiting for calls for friends who cannot be found yet,” the former lawyer said.

Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government – an offshoot of lawmakers deposed in the coup – said its armed wing would implement a two-week “temporary pause” in “offensive military operations, except for defensive actions” in quake-affected areas from March 30.

The NUG said it would coordinate rescue operations with resistance forces, allied organizations, and civil society groups. “We call on all ethnic groups and citizens to actively cooperate with the NUG and revolutionary forces in providing comprehensive emergency rescue and relief assistance to the earthquake victims,” it said in a statement.

Earthquake hit with huge force

The earthquake is the most powerful to hit Myanmar in a century.

“The force that a quake like this releases is about 334 atomic bombs,” geologist Jess Phoenix told CNN.

Another seismologist said that the quake was like a “great knife cut into the Earth.”

James Jackson, from the University of Cambridge in England, told CNN the earthquake was caused by a rupture that lasted for “a full minute,” causing sideways movements on the ground.

“Think of a piece of paper tearing, and it tears at about two kilometers per second,” he said.

However, the powerful phenomenon was “not an unexpected event,” Shengji Wei, principal investigator at the Earth Observatory of Singapore said.

Friday’s earthquake occurred along a segment of the Sagaing Fault, a major geological fault line that has historically seen big earthquakes, said Wei.

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