BBC finds a huge devastation and a little help for those who survived in the mandala

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Mandala’s arrival, a massive scale from the earthquake last Friday, revealed itself gradually.

Almost every street we addressed, especially in the northern and central parts of the city, at least one building fell apart, reduced to a pile of rubble. Some streets had several structures that descended.

Almost every building we saw were cracks that passed at least one of its walls, dangerous to enter. At the main city hospital, they should treat patients outdoors.

Myanmar’s military government stated that after the earthquake it does not allow foreign journalists to the country, so we went to the secret. We had to work carefully because the country was pierced by informants and secret police, who spy on their own people for the ruling military junta.

We witnessed, these are people who helped very little, making their way to this large -scale catastrophe.

“I hope he is alive, even if it’s a small chance,” said 41-year-old NAS Sin Haol, who is waiting on the street opposite the five-story building, day and night for five days.

Her 21-year-old Say Khan Fa was a construction worker, repairing the interior of the building, which was previously a hotel and turned into an office.

“If they can save him today, it is likely that he will survive,” she says.

When an earthquake magnet 7.7 struck, the lower part of the building dropped into the ground, its top, which was exposed to the street above the street, looking the way it can translate at any moment.

Sau Khan Fa and four other workers were trapped.

When we visited, there was no rescue effort in the building, and there were no signs they would start soon. On the spot is just not enough assistance – and the reason for this is the political situation in the country.

Even before Myanmar’s earthquake was in disorder, it was recorded in a civil war that supplanted approximately 3.5 million. His military continued his activity against armed rebel groups, despite the disaster.

This means that security forces are too stretched to put full power over help and rescue operations. With the exception of some key places, we did not see them in a lot of Mandala.

The military junta outlined an rare call for international assistance, but its difficult relations with many foreign countries, including the UK and the US, meant that while these countries promised, the help of labor on Earth is now only from countries such as India, China and Russia.

And so far, these rescue efforts appears to be focused on structures where the masses of the Condominium Sky Villa, which live hundreds of people, and the Buddhist Academy U Hla Thein, where dozens of monks passed the exam when an earthquake took place.

Neeraj Singh, which leads an Indian response group to a disaster that works at the Buddhist Academy, said the structure collapsed as a “pancake” – one layer on top of the other.

“This is the most difficult pattern of collapse, and the chances of finding survivors are very low. But we still hope and try,” he said.

Working under the inflatable sun, in almost 40C, rescuers use metal workouts and cuts to break the concrete slabs into smaller pieces. This is a slow and extremely demanding job. When the faucet lifts the concrete pieces, the stench of broken bodies is already quite strong, it becomes overwhelming.

Rescuers notice four or bodies, but it will take a couple of hours to pull out the first.

Sitting on the rugs under the improvised tent in the Academy connection, there are students. Their faces get tired and worsen. As soon as they hear that the body was restored, they are the crowd around the ambulance.

Others gather around a savior that shows them a body photo on their mobile phone.

There are painful moments when families try to find out if the dead person is loved.

But the body is so mutilated that the task is impossible. He goes to the morgue, where he will need to conduct forensic tests to confirm the person.

Among the families-father 29-year-old U Thuzana. He does not hope his son survived. “Knowing that my son was over, I am incapacitated, I am filled with grief,” said U Hla Aung, his face is supposed to be sob.

Many historical sections of Mandala also caused considerable damage, including the Mandala Palace and Maha Mohn’s weather, but we couldn’t enter to see the degree of damage.

Access to everything – sites, sacrifices and their families – was not easy from the depressing environment created by a military junta, and people are often afraid to talk to journalists.

Not far from the pagoda, we saw Buddhist funeral rituals held on the streets outside the destroyed home. It was the house of U Hla Aung Khaing and his wife Dau Mamamhta, both in the sixties.

“I lived with them, but it was on the border of the earthquake. So I survived. Both my parents left in one moment,” the son told us.

Their bodies were issued not trained rescuers, but locals who used rudimentary equipment. It took two days to pull the couples that were found with each other.

Myanmar’s military government says 2886 people have died so far, but so many collapse sites have not even reached the authorities that this number is unlikely to be accurate. We will never find out what a real dead earthquake is.

Parks and open spaces in the mandalas turned into improvised camps, as well as the shore of the moat that pass around the palace. All the city we saw people spread the rugs and mattresses around their houses, as it was approaching the evening, preferring to sleep outdoors.

Mandalay is a city that lives in horror and for a good reason. Almost every night from Friday there were big jolts. We woke up to the jolts of 5 values ​​5 in the middle of the night.

But tens of thousands sleep outdoors because they have no home.

“I no longer know what to think. My heart was still shaking when I think about the moment when the earthquake struck,” said Hin, 72, whom we met while she was waiting in line with her little granddaughter nearby. “We are over, but my house is gone. I live under the tree. Come and look.”

She works as an American and says her son suffers from a disability that does not allow him to work.

“Where will I live now? I have so many problems. I live next to the garbage.

“We don’t have anyone to save us. Please help us,” she said, tears rolls on his cheeks.

Another elderly woman launches, her eyes are torn: “No one has been spreading food today. So we haven’t eaten.”

Most of the vehicles we saw, tightening up to the distribution of supplies, were small minibuses – donations from persons or small local organizations. This is nowhere not enough for the number of people in need, which has led to a contraction to grab everything you can get out of stock.

Parts of the Mandala Main Hospital are also damaged, and therefore the already difficult situation of the rows and lines of the beds is laid out in the hospital connection for patients.

Shwe Gy Thun Phyo, 14, suffered from brain injury and my eyes. She is conscious but not responding. Her father tries to make her as comfortable as possible.

There were very few doctors and nurses around to cope with the demand for treatment, which means that families come into what medical staff should.

Zar Zar has a dissolved abdomen from a serious abdominal injury. Her daughter sits after her, holding her and her fans to give her relief from the heat.

We were unable to spend a lot of time at the hospital, fearing the police or the military.

Because the window to find those who survived from the earthquake, more and more those who bring to the hospital died.

The NAS Sin of Hein, who is waiting outside the destroyed building where her son was trapped, was initially stoic, but now she looks like preparing to face what seems to be the most likely result.

“I was broken my heart. My son loved me and his little sisters. He tried to support us,” she says.

“I just hope to see my son’s face even when he died. I want to see his body. I want them to do their best to find his body.”