Fresh tremors have shaken survivors of Friday's quake, which killed more than 1,600 people as the government continues to bomb other parts of the country.
Myo Zaw and his team of volunteer rescuers were the first to arrive at the scene of the collapse of a three-storey building in Mandalay just after 8pm on Saturday. They were digging through the rubble with their bare hands when they heard the girl's voice.
It was faint but clear. “Help me, I'm here,” she said.
It took them three or four hours to pull out the 12-year-old girl, who survived even as the house collapsed around her. But in the early hours of Sunday morning, there was only silence as rescuers continued to work in nearly 100-degree heat. They eventually dug out three bodies: the girl's mother and her grandparents.
“Unfortunately, I fear we will find more bodies than survivors,” said Mr Myo Zaw. “Mandalay is extremely hot, causing rapid decomposition. In some cases, we find bodies only by smell.”
Time is running out in Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city of about 1.5 million people, which is close to the epicentre of Friday's devastating earthquake. In one area of Mandalay, countless buildings were reduced to rubble, satellite images showed.
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Source: Maxar Technologies/Maxar, via Associated Press
Bora Erden
Across the country, more than 1,600 people were confirmed dead as of Saturday evening and more than 3,000 injured in Myanmar's strongest earthquake in a century. Many fear the number of people who can be saved will dwindle after Monday evening, a crucial 72-hour mark after which experts say the chances of survival plummet.
What damage do Myanmar earthquake maps show?
View the location of the earthquake epicenter and the tremor zone.
