On Sunday, emergency rescue teams started arriving in the Myanmar region most affected by a massive earthquake that has claimed over 1,600 lives.
However, their operations were hampered by damaged infrastructure, including buckled roads and downed bridges, as well as communication difficulties and the context of a civil war in the country.
The earthquake, measuring 7.7 on the magnitude scale, struck on Friday, with its epicenter near Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, leading to the collapse of numerous buildings and damage to critical infrastructure such as the city’s airport.

Many of Mandalay’s 1.5 million inhabitants spent Saturday night on the streets, either displaced by the quake—it was also felt in neighboring Thailand, causing at least 17 deaths there—or fearing that the unstable structures might cave in due to the continuous aftershocks.
People were alarmed on Sunday when another aftershock, measuring 5.1 in magnitude, occurred, but there were no reports of further damage immediately following the tremor.