A 27-year-old student from Myanmar left Ireland on Wednesday, after living here for two years, to travel to Thailand to visit family who are currently living in Myanmar.
Nyein said she was in her hotel room in Thailand sleeping after experiencing jetlag when she felt the earthquake begin.
"It all happened in about three minutes. The hotel was shaking and it was moving both horizontally and vertically and it was not stopping. I then realised it was an earthquake, and I heard alarms going off outside but the hotel itself didn't have an alarming system.
"When I looked out the window I saw people running out into the street, so I ran out of my room then."
All public transport in the city she is staying in is cancelled until further notice, and all airports are closed.
"Looking outside the window, the traffic is overwhelming. I’m just watching the news constantly for the latest updates."
She said that when the earthquake happened, her first thought was her family and friends back home in Myanmar. She tried to contact them immediately, but was not able to make any connections on the phone or online for about 45 minutes.
"Especially in the epicentre, we couldn’t connect because the government shut down the electricity to avoid more electrical shocks and fires starting in the aftermath.
"There was no WiFi and the fibre connection went out, telecommunications towers also fell down, so we couldn’t reach anyone in the affected areas.
"Fortunately, I later spoke with my family and they are safe. There is some damage to their house, the wall is cracked. Some other buildings in the neighbourhood collapsed, mainly new houses.
"They’re still in shock, and they were afraid to go back into their homes and stay there, but the main thing is they are safe.
"It’s going to take a while to recover, especially when the labour force in the country is so few."
She said that there is solidarity with other people in Thailand, as there are a lot of Myanmar migrant workers there and also working at the hotel she is staying at.
"My trip to Thailand is to meet with my family as I haven't seen them for a while, so I was really excited for that. In about ten days' time there is the Thai New Year festival, so we were due to meet at that."
She said that at the moment she is most nervous about aftershocks, and has been feeling them since the major earthquake.
She said that she feels a great sense of loss already, seeing images from friends of their damaged homes as well as a major bridge that collapsed, the Ava Bridge that crosses the Irrawaddy river between Mandalay and Sagaing.
"It has collapsed into pieces and it’s heartbreaking. Those areas are huge for cultural heritage with old buildings and historical sites, so that’s also really sad too."
She said that she did not feel Myanmar was properly prepared for the earthquake, and they should be preparing for further aftershocks now as people's lives are still at risk.
"They are just focusing on rescue attempts instead of planning ahead. I think because of the ongoing crisis and the civil war in Myanmar, there’s very few working in public or emergency services who can do the rescues.
"Myanmar has a shortage of medical staff, healthcare workers. It was already a crisis before this. I am worried about what's going to happen next."
She said that the help her country needs now from Ireland and Europe is emergency assistance. She added that now was not the time for politicisation of support, as this has happened to much already in Myanmar in her experience.
Nyein did not wish to publish her full name or a personal photograph because of the ongoing political situation in her home country.
