Soldiers Slow Rescue Efforts in a City Destroyed by Myanmar Earthquake

Three days after Myanmar’s worst earthquake in more than a century ravaged the remote, war-torn city of Sagaing, razing monasteries and apartment buildings, help was still just starting to trickle in.

The city’s 300,000 residents had been left to largely fend for themselves after the 7.7-magnitude quake struck, damaging roads and prompting the authorities to close a bridge over safety concerns. The area was already deeply isolated, cut off from the internet by Myanmar’s military, which has been fighting rebels in a civil war.

By late Monday, some international aid groups began arriving in Sagaing. But local volunteers seeking to help with search and rescue efforts said they were being blocked by the military.

“We are not allowed to freely enter and provide assistance,” said U Tin Shwe, a resident of Sagaing who was standing outside a military barricade at a monastery that had toppled, with monks still trapped under the debris. “Rescue operations can only be carried out with their permission.”

The military government said on Monday that the toll from the earthquake, which ripped through large swaths of Myanmar, including Sagaing, and the cities of Mandalay and Naypyidaw, had surged to 2,056, up from around 1,700 on Saturday. Another 3,900 were injured. Preliminary modeling by the U.S. Geological Survey suggests the number of deaths could be more than 10,000.

Search-and-rescue teams have flocked to the cities of Mandalay and Naypyidaw, the home of the country’s generals. But many people in Myanmar have taken to social media to plead with foreign governments to redirect aid into Sagaing, which was close to the quake’s epicenter and where residents say that over 80 percent of the town has been destroyed.