Residents of Tada-U Town, one of the areas hardest hit by the 28 March 2025 earthquake, are having to carry out earthquake relief by themselves as no rescue teams have gone there.
The earthquake badly hit Tada-U Town. It lies about 6km south of Sagaing Town which was above the earthquake’s epicentre and about 10km south-west of Mandalay Town.
But, with no rescue teams in sight, locals have been left to rely on their limited resources to find and pull out both survivors and bodies from the rubble.
A woman from Tada-U Town said to DMG: “There are still people trapped under the rubble. There’s not much heavy machinery or the right equipment to clear it, but the locals are using whatever they’ve got to do what they can. They’re also working on clearing the debris from the streets and roads in the town.”
The 7.7 magnitude earthquake caused around 200 houses to collapse in Tada-U. Some people were still trapped under the rubble, and no official search efforts had yet been conducted, as of 7 April 2025.
International and local rescue teams, along with aid organisations, are unable to reach Tada-U because roads to the town have been destroyed by the earthquake, as have communication lines to the town.
Locals are having to rescue trapped individuals without the necessary protective gear or equipment for the task.
The aforementioned woman from Tada-U Town said: “While many relief teams and aid have made it to cities like Sagaing and Mandalay, Tada-U hasn’t seen any help. In some areas, locals have hired people to clear the rubble. After 31 March, foul smells [from rotting corpses] started coming from under some of the debris, so cleanup efforts have had to focus on those spots.”
Many of the people rescued from the rubble required medical treatment, but the central hospital in Tada-U has already been overwhelmed. As a result a local non-governmental organisation (NGO) healthcare team is also assisting with treatment of the injured.
According to junta announcements, as of 6 April, 3,564 people had died, 5,012 had been injured, and 214 were still missing as a result of the 28 March earthquake.
