The window to find earthquake survivors buried under rubble is closing fast in two South-East Asian cities more than 1,000 kilometres apart, as the death toll from Friday's 7.7-magnitude quake passes 1,700.
And as rescuers in Myanmar race against time to find anyone still alive, hopes have been dashed that the earthquake could pause hostilities between the country's military government and rival armed groups, with reports of multiple air strikes.
While the search for survivors at a collapsed building under construction in Bangkok continues into a fourth day and the death toll in Thailand reaches 18 people, a similar but more poorly resourced rescue effort is unfolding in the Burmese city of Mandalay.
Not far from the epicentre of the quake, a residential tower named the Sky Villa Condominium collapsed, with a local resident telling the ABC rescue crews spent the weekend looking for dozens of people.
"It's an 11-storey tower, and now the lower four stories are underground," said a teacher who did not want to be identified, citing concerns about speaking to international media.
"People at the site could still hear screaming, but the rescue teams don't have enough equipment to lift the rubble, so the search is taking a long time," he said.
He also described seeing "piles" of bodies awaiting identification at the hospital's mortuary.
"There are many, maybe around 100 bodies, piled up one after another," the teacher said.
Maung Tayoke, a resident of Mandalay, described the terrifying moment the earthquake struck.
"I grabbed my baby and ran out of my apartment onto the street," he recalled.
"I didn't have time to think."
As buildings collapsed around him, he rushed back inside to fetch a loudspeaker and began warning others to evacuate.
"Then a second quake hit, and this time I saw a building collapse right in front of me," he said.
Days later, his family remains too frightened to sleep inside their home, even though it is still standing.
Along with many of his neighbours, they now sleep outside on the pavement.
Maung Tayoke also tried to help dig survivors out of the rubble — until soldiers arrived.
"The military walked down the street with their guns and told us to stop," he said.
Others have reported similar accounts of authorities preventing people from filming the destruction. Some, fearing reprisals, have resorted to recording footage from their cars.
As of Sunday, international rescue teams from China, India, Russia, Singapore and Thailand had arrived in the country, with reports some had made it to Mandalay.
But a rescue team from Taiwan was not allowed to enter the country, likely owing to the Myanmar military government's close relationship with China.
With Mandalay's airport badly affected, aid teams have been flying into Yangon further south.
A resident travelling from Yangon to Mandalay told the ABC the road closed at night, slowing the movement of aid.
Han Zin, a resident of another hard hit area in central Myanmar, Saigang, told news agency Reuters that he had not seen any rescue workers.
"What we are seeing here is widespread destruction — many buildings have collapsed into the ground," he told Reuters by phone, adding that much of the town had been without electricity since the disaster hit and drinking water was running out.
Since Friday's earthquake, dozens of aftershocks have rattled central Myanmar, the worst measuring magnitude-5.1 on Sunday afternoon, according to the US Geological Survey.
That caused panic on the streets of Mandalay.
Rumours of another big earthquake also prompted thousands of residents in Mandalay and Yangon to pour out onto the streets on Saturday evening.
Air strikes shatter hopes of ceasefire
In the wake of the disaster, one group opposing Myanmar's ruling military government said it had ordered armed militias under its control to pause fighting.
The announcement by the group known as the National Unity Government, which includes some former members of Myanmar's last democratically elected government, pledged a two-week pause to military action.
International organisations, including the United Nations special envoy for the Secretary-General on Myanmar, former Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop, have urged all parties including the military government to refrain from violence.
But instead the ruling military appears to have carried out at least two separate air strikes since Friday's earthquake.
Sources inside the country say a military helicopter struck a target in the town of Pauk to the west of the worst affected regions.
A separate air strike was also reported further north in Kachin state later on Sunday.
There were also claims of an aerial bombardment of a target in Shan state in the hours after the earthquake on Friday, which the ABC has not been able to confirm.
Myanmar was plunged into conflict when the military overthrew the democratically elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021 and control of the country is now split between various armed groups.
'The military will use this crisis': expert
The earthquake happened just weeks after Myanmar's junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing announced a long-promised election would take place within the next 12 months.
But since Friday he's declared a state of emergency in multiple regions.
"It's almost as if the earthquake has given cover for the military to try to continue its fight against those groups," said Rosa Freedman, a professor of law, conflict and global development at the University of Reading.
"It would be a disaster for Myanmar in terms of finding some way forward politically," she said.
"There absolutely has to be a ceasefire but it looks instead like the military will use this crisis to continue its efforts to have a stranglehold over Myanmar."
Opposition groups have also questioned whether international aid delivered to the ruling military will be distributed properly.
One group, the Karen National Union that controls parts of Myanmar's east, called for "parallel aid processes" where international organisations would distribute aid directly through local community groups.
"Given the military's history of misappropriating international aid, as witnessed following Cyclone Nargis in 2008, the KNU urges robust monitoring methods be established," the group said in a statement.
State television over the weekend showed the State Administration Council chief Min Aung Hlaing visiting hospital patients in Mandalay.
In the immediate aftermath, he made a rare call for international assistance, and state media quoted him saying his administration faced a challenging situation.
