NEW TAIPEI, Taiwan — For the past day, Win Win has been constantly checking social media, desperate for any news about her family in Myanmar’s Mandalay following Friday’s powerful earthquake. While working at a Taiwan restaurant, serving samosas and snacks, she tries to distract herself. "We spoke last night, but there’s been no contact today. I can’t get through. I’m so scared for them," said Win Win, a member of Taiwan’s estimated 50,000 Sino-Burmese community, speaking to Reuters on Saturday from an eatery in Little Myanmar, New Taipei, near the capital.

Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city and near the epicenter of the 7.7-magnitude quake, is home to a significant ethnic Chinese population, many with ties to Taiwan. The Taiwanese government has offered to send rescue teams, but as of now, there has been no response, according to Taiwan’s foreign ministry.

At a snack store in Little Myanmar, Yee Yu Nai anxiously scrolled through her phone for updates from Mandalay, where her sister lives. "I know their house is fine because it was newly built, but the street is severely damaged," she shared. Taiwan’s Myanmar community has deep historical roots, dating back to the end of China’s civil war in 1949, when Republic of China soldiers, after their defeat, fled to Burma before eventually resettling in Taiwan. In more recent times, others have migrated to escape repression and anti-Chinese sentiment.

Ethnic Chinese in Myanmar have long faced discrimination, particularly under General Ne Win’s rule after he seized power in 1962. He imposed restrictions on land ownership, banned Chinese-language education, and fueled anti-Chinese hostility, which culminated in violent riots in 1967. Another resident of Little Myanmar, who requested to be identified only by her family name, Huang, to protect her relatives still in Myanmar, voiced deep concerns about the country’s ongoing instability. "I just don’t think anyone is coming to save them," she said, fearing for her family in Mandalay.

Disclaimer: This image is taken from Reuters.