Vietnamese support earthquake victims, haunted by whole village burned down in Myanmar

Heartbreaking images after the earthquake

On the morning of March 31, upon receiving news that her husband's agency's working delegation was about to leave for Myanmar, Ms. Chu Nguyet (currently living in Mandalay City) took the opportunity to go buy some food to prepare a meal for guests.

Electric wires caught fire after the earthquake, burning down the whole village (Photo: Character provided).

Along the way, the streets were still littered with ruined houses. As the car passed through a village about 5km from the centre of Mandalay, the houses on both sides were pitch black, their furniture burned to the frame.

The earthquake knocked down concrete electric poles, electric wires caught fire, the fire quickly spread, burning down all the property of households in the area.

Scene of devastation after the earthquake in Myanmar (Source: Character provided).

"The hamlet has 360 houses with about 2,000 residents, all of which were severely damaged by the fire. Feeling sorry for the people, I and two Myanmar friends brought necessities and money to help," Nguyet shared.

When Ms. Nguyet's rescue team arrived, thousands of people crowded and pushed each other, creating a chaotic scene. It took quite a while for the team to regain order.

According to the plan, Ms. Nguyet intended to give from 600,000 VND to 1 million VND to each person. However, the number of people who came was too large, in the end she could only give each person 60,000 VND.

Ms. Nguyet shared: "We had to use a pen to mark the hand of each recipient to avoid one person receiving the money twice. When I almost gave out all the money, many residents pushed and shoved, trying to fight for it because they were afraid they wouldn't get any."

No longer the peaceful atmosphere of an ancient capital, these days, the rhythm of life in Mandalay has almost stagnated under the 40 degree Celsius heat. Homeless households have to live in the open.

Houses devastated after earthquake and fire (Photo: Character provided).

Along the Mandalay citadel, Ms. Nguyet saw many people setting up makeshift tents. Some people accepted to sleep next to the garbage dump, living off relief supplies from volunteer groups.

"Currently, authorities are racing against time to rescue victims under the rubble. Hospitals are overloaded, patients have to lie on stretchers, and there is a shortage of everything," Ms. Nguyet added.

Electricity has been restored to some areas in Mandalay, but only for 3-4 hours a day, while clean water is in serious shortage. Although Nguyet’s family had stockpiled many bottles of clean water before the earthquake, they only had enough for a week. Currently, the family is waiting for help from Vietnamese people in other areas.

Ms. Nguyet's group distributes money to people (Photo: Character provided).

On March 30, Ms. Nguyet went to help at an apartment complex about 300 meters from her home. The earthquake caused 2 out of 3 buildings to collapse, the remaining building tilted.

Many people managed to escape when the earthquake struck, but many residents were still trapped under the rubble. On the fourth day after the disaster, the stench of death began to permeate the air.

"Passing by high-rise buildings, I could not help but feel moved and saddened when I saw many people crying their eyes out, waiting for news about their missing relatives under the rubble. However, due to lack of equipment, rescue work encountered many difficulties," Ms. Nguyet shared.

never ending obsession

It has been 3 days since the 7.7 magnitude earthquake occurred in Myanmar, but Ms. Huynh Thi Ngoc Thanh - a Vietnamese living in Yangon City - is still in shock.

This woman still remembers that at 12:50, the ground shook violently, causing the entire city of Yangon to shake for 5 minutes.

"At that time, I was in the house and clearly felt the terrible shaking. The lights on the ceiling swayed violently like a pendulum. I felt like I was drifting on a ship in the middle of a storm," Ms. Thanh recounted.

Not only the furniture in the house, the swimming pool in the yard was also in turmoil. The water splashed loudly, overflowing the pool wall, splashing to both sides.

Trucks carrying relief supplies are operating continuously in Myanmar (Photo: Character provided).

In a state of extreme panic, Ms. Thanh could only hold her daughter's hand tightly, continuously chanting Buddha's name, praying for the disaster to pass soon. Meanwhile, Ms. Thanh's employees panicked and ran away, screaming loudly.

"That moment was really scary. I was confused, just standing there, worried that the house could collapse at any moment. Luckily, after the earthquake, everyone in Yangon City was safe. I breathed a sigh of relief because the house was still stable, only the swimming pool was cracked," Ms. Thanh shared.