Fifteen-year-old Ko Thein, from Sagaing division in central Myanmar, the epicentre of Friday's magnitude-7.7 earthquake, has been waiting for help that has yet to arrive.
His mother was killed before his eyes when their house collapsed.
"She was talking to me as I was waiting in the car and went to the door, but then the earthquake hit — it was so intense the building just fell on her," he said.
Three days later, he remains in limbo.
"I just want to get my mother's body out from under the building. That's all I want," he pleaded.
His father, severely injured, is in desperate need of medical care. But reaching a hospital in the closest major city of Mandalay remains impossible.
"We can't get to Mandalay. The soldiers aren't letting people through," he said.
The earthquake has left critical infrastructure in ruins and killed more than 2,000 people.
Bridges, highways, airports, and railways are damaged, cutting off entire townships from aid and volunteers.
Military controls access to aid
Myanmar's ruling military, long known for its isolationist stance since seizing power in a 2021 coup, has signalled an unusual openness to international aid in response to the disaster.
But human rights groups and residents fear that aid is being selectively distributed, leaving crisis zones like Sagaing without help.
While Mandalay and Naypyidaw, Myanmar's economic and political hubs, have received international attention, other areas like Sagaing and southern Shan state remain largely forgotten.
"The military has the resources — they have helicopters, trucks. But in the last three days, we haven't seen any of that being used to help people in areas like Sagaing," said Khin Ohmar of Progressive Voice, a human rights group monitoring aid efforts.
"Instead, they're still bombing civilians."
On Monday, local media reported that the junta bombed Naung Cho in northern Shan State.
The UN special rapporteur on Myanmar confirmed that at least three air strikes had hit the Sagaing region, a stronghold of anti-junta resistance, since the earthquake struck.
Fears of aid as a weapon of war
Human rights groups fear the military is using logistical challenges as an excuse for not getting aid to rebel-held areas.
"The concern is that they will claim certain regions are too difficult to reach when, in reality, aid denial is being used as a weapon," said Khin Ohmar.
Amnesty International has also warned that the junta may be deliberately blocking assistance to opposition strongholds.
"Sagaing is completely cut off," said Thinzar Shunlei Yi, a women's rights activist with the Sister 2 Sister campaign, who has not been able to reach her family in Sagaing since the earthquake struck.
"We would like all aid efforts to be based on humanitarian principles of impartiality and independence."
Verifying what's happening in Myanmar is difficult given media access is restricted under the junta.But junta chief General Min Aung Hlaing warned at the weekend that the number of fatalities could rise."It is not possible for [foreign journalists] to come, stay, find shelter, or move around here. We want everyone to understand this," Zaw Min Tun, the regime's spokesperson said in an audio statement issued on Sunday, according to local media."Many hotels have been damaged, and several areas still do not have electricity. Additionally, local officials at various administrative levels are currently focused on relief efforts and cannot take responsibility for foreign journalists."
Some foreign rescue teams, including one from Taiwan, have faced delays in obtaining visas, according to local news reports.
International teams have arrived, from countries including China, India and Singapore, but human rights groups allege they're mostly restricted to military-controlled areas.
Images shared with the ABC by locals in Sagaing city show a Malaysian rescue team arriving, but locals say few others have made it in.
Even burying the dead has reportedly been obstructed.
Cremation sites in Sagaing have been shut down by the military, according to DVB local media reports.
In one incident, families said they were unable to bury nearly 200 Muslims who were killed during prayer in a mosque in Sagaing City because the cemetery lies beyond military lines, according to DVB.
Instead, bodies were transported to Mandalay for burial.
The ABC has approached the junta for comment.
With each passing hour, the window to find survivors narrows.
"The smell of the dead is getting stronger," said Maung Tayoke, a shopkeeper in Mandalay.
He described desperate scenes — residents queuing at local restaurants for food donations and civilians organising their own relief efforts.
Logistical nightmares and a race against time
Beyond political roadblocks, the scale of the devastation presents staggering logistical challenges.
Myanmar lacks the equipment and expertise for large-scale search-and-rescue operations.
The World Food Programme (WFP) has begun deploying aid workers from regional offices in Southern Shan State, Sagaing, and Naypyidaw.
"Our warehouses in Sagaing weren't damaged, but the collapsed bridge is making operations difficult," said WFP's Myanmar director Michael Dunford.
"What we need is an end to the conflict. We need humanitarian access. And, most importantly, we need funding and donor support to scale up our operations."
Communications remain crippled.
The Myanmar Internet Project has urged the military to lift internet blackouts in one-third of the country, warning that the shutdown is blocking life-saving efforts.
"Every minute counts," said Htaike Htaike, director of The Myanmar Internet Project who has monitored the military's internet restrictions.
"Without internet access, people can't coordinate rescues or call for humanitarian aid."
Hospitals overwhelmed, basic supplies running out
Trevor Clark, UNICEF's regional chief of emergency, warned that Myanmar's medical infrastructure has been devastated.
"Mandalay's 1,000-bed hospital has collapsed," he said.
"If heavy rescue equipment and trained personnel aren't on the ground already [then aid is starting to] move into the next phase — massive humanitarian relief for the displaced."
Waterborne diseases are a growing threat, as millions face shortages of clean water and sanitation.
International agencies are pushing for swift access, but past experience suggests that military bureaucracy could slow efforts.
"The regime doesn't understand how large-scale humanitarian operations work," said Richard Horsey, an analyst who was involved in relief efforts after Cyclone Nargis in 2008.
"They see aid as a donation, not a coordinated delivery system. If visas for key experts aren't issued and logistical hurdles aren't cleared, the response will suffer," Mr Horsey told the ABC.
Tom Andrews, a UN special rapporteur on Myanmar, said there were grassroots groups that were able to deliver aid without involving the military rulers.
Mr Andrews called the military's continued bombing campaign of civilian areas after the earthquake "gruesome" and said funds needed to be directed to earthquake relief.
"The military is diverting those resources to continue on its war," he told the ABC's The Radio National Hour.
The military junta has not publicly addressed criticism that it is blocking aid.
The fight for access
Thinzar Shunlei Yi, the women's rights activist, stressed the need for trauma-informed aid distribution.
"Many men have been conscripted or are fighting in the resistance, so there are only middle-aged or young people left to step in and support each other," she said.
"Now people have lost everything. They feel like they are losing their dignity. We need to make sure aid isn't going through the military and that it's gender-sensitive."
Despite concerns that international assistance could lend legitimacy to the junta, analysts say the regime remains deeply unpopular.
"If soldiers stand beside shipments of international aid, no-one is going to believe the regime has suddenly changed," said Mr Horsey.
"People will know where the help is really coming from."
