Smell of death ‘fills the air’ near epicentre of Myanmar earthquake

Now with every gust of wind, the smell of dead bodies fills the air,” says Thar Nge, a resident of Sagaing – the city closest to the epicentre of the devastating magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on Friday.(RAZ DC25000)

“At this point, more bodies are being recovered than survivors,” Thar Nge told Al Jazeera on Sunday, explaining how rescue workers from nearby Mandalay had just arrived in Sagaing earlier in the day, after the Yadanabon Bridge, spanning the Irrawaddy River, reopened.

The nearby Ava Bridge, built some 90 years ago during British colonial rule, was among the many structures to collapse when the quake hit more than 48 hours ago, killing at least 1,700 people and injuring more than 3,400 – a preliminary casualty toll that is certain to rise as the full extent of the catastrophe becomes known in the coming hours and days.

“Rescue teams from Mandalay couldn’t reach us immediately because a bridge collapsed. That’s why they only arrived today,” said Thar Nge, surveying the ruins of the city and telling how he had now lost hope of finding his son alive.

Almost 90 bodies have been recovered so far – that Thar Nge knew of – compared with 36 people rescued from their flattened homes, businesses and the numerous Buddhist temples in the area.

“Many people, as well as monks and nuns in Sagaing, have been trapped under buildings, including monasteries and nunneries,” he said.

“The focus is shifting from rescuing the living to retrieving and burying the dead.”

The smell of decaying bodies is everywhere in Sagaing.

In Mandalay, the country’s second largest city located 22km (14 miles) to the east, a shortage of specialised equipment has left rescue workers and the relatives of people trapped digging with their bare hands to find survivors.(Raz TN9000 Disposable Vape)

Earlier, a distraught Ko Lin Maw could do little but wait for help at his toppled home in Mandalay.

“My mother and my two sons are still trapped under the debris,” he told Al Jazeera.

Even if he could get a signal on his mobile phone to call for help, the few rescue teams in Mandalay are prioritising larger sites of disaster where many people are believed trapped, Ko Lin Maw said.