In 'Little Myanmars' in Taiwan and Singapore, many fear for quake affected relatives

By Ben Blanchard and Jun Yuan Yong

NEW TAIPEI, Taiwan (Reuters) -Win Win has been glued to social media for the past day, trying to work out whether her family in Myanmar's Mandalay survived Friday's powerful earthquake, distracting herself at the Taiwan restaurant where she works by serving samosas and other snacks.

"We spoke last night but then nothing today. I can't get through. I'm so scared for them," Win Win, one of Taiwan's estimated 50,000 Sino-Burmese, told Reuters on Saturday at the eatery in Little Myanmar in New Taipei, neighbouring the capital, Taipei.

Myanmar's second-largest city, Mandalay, which lies close to the epicentre of the 7.7 magnitude quake, has a large ethnic Chinese population, many of whom have ties to Taiwan, whose government has offered to send rescue teams.

Taiwan's foreign ministry says it has yet to receive a response to that offer.

Yee Yu Nai, sitting at a snack store in Little Myanmar, scrolled through her phone looking for the latest news from Mandalay, where her sister lives.

"I know their house is OK as it was newly built, but the street is very badly damaged," she said.

Taiwan's Myanmar community traces its history back to the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, when many of the defeated Republic of China soldiers fled into what was then called Burma before eventually being evacuated to Taiwan.

Others have come more recently, fleeing repression and anti-Chinese sentiment.

Another resident of Taiwan's Little Myanmar, who asked to be identified by her family name of Huang to avoid repercussions for her relatives still in the country, said the precarious state of civil strife-hit Myanmar was her biggest concern.

"I just don't think anyone is coming to save them," she said of her relatives still in Mandalay.

WORRIES AND UNCERTAINTIES IN SINGAPORE

In Singapore's Peninsula Plaza, a mall where Burmese businesses and migrants gather every weekend, logistics company administrator Su Laff, 41, bemoaned how before the quake, her relatives were already living through civil unrest and recently survived floods. "We've lost people already," she said.

There are about 200,000 Burmese in the wealthy city-state, according to estimates by local media, with many in blue collar jobs such as domestic helpers or construction workers. Singapore on Saturday sent an 80-member contingent of doctors, paramedics and search specialists alongside equipment to help with disaster rescue efforts.  

Shopkeeper Min Koon, 35, said he was unable to reach his family until Saturday morning, when his sister regained network access and he found out a wall had fallen on his relative in Mandalay but they have no access to medical care. 

"What injury they have, (whether it is) heavy or not, we don’t know because they don’t have any medication or assistance," he said.

Meanwhile, Aung Myo Thant, 41, was paying double the usual price to fly home on Sunday to be with his wife and children in Mandalay. Thant, who works as a painter, was also only able to reach his wife today and while his family is unhurt, their three-storey home had collapsed.

"I cannot control my (emotions)…I am like the crazy man, you know. My life and my family’s life is gone,” he said.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard in Taipei and Jun Yuan Yong in Singapore; Editing by Gerry Doyle and Alex Richardson)