Myanmar: How MSF is supporting communities after the earthquake

Two months on from the devastating earthquake in Myanmar, clean-up continues in Mandalay city. But beyond the rubble, people face new challenges and uncertainty as they try to rebuild their lives while grieving for their loved ones and living in temporary shelter. 

MSF mental health teams are providing group and one-on-one sessions for adults and children to address some of these needs.

Ma Thiri* vividly remembers her life changing in an instant.

“People were shouting and screaming in panic, telling everyone to run out onto the streets. While everyone was shouting, I turned and looked back. The flames were already engulfing my house. There was no way I could go back and grab anything.”

Ma Thiri, who worked as a tailor, lost her home and livelihood during Myanmar’s 7.7 magnitude earthquake on 28 March.

Her neighbourhood, built on the site of a landfill in Sein Pan, Mandalay city, was largely destroyed in a methane gas fire ignited by the earthquake.

Now sheltering with her family on the grounds of the local monastery, the 30-year-old is uncertain about where they will live next, and whether she will be able to restart her small business. Despite her pressing anxieties, she tries to stay resilient.  

“I am able to sleep. But when I feel deeply sad, I can't cry in front of my parents,” she explains, “I'm the one they rely on to provide for them, so if I show my pain, I fear it will make things worse for them. That’s why I have to keep myself strong.” 

Aftermath and ongoing anxieties

Clearance efforts are well underway across Mandalay city, which was badly affected by the disaster. Salvaged materials are sorted into piles at damaged sites and construction workers continue long shifts.

Community groups have helped restore a sense of normalcy after the earthquake, organising group donations and supplies in solidarity with those affected.

But for Ma Thiri and many of the families made homeless in Mandalay city, there are new challenges to confront. Two months on, people coming to terms with the initial shock of the disaster are now homeless, living in shelters at sites around the city.

Some are grieving for family members and friends who did not survive. Many are anxious for the immediate future, with practical concerns around housing, income, healthcare and education among common worries.

Meanwhile, frequent aftershocks provide regular physical reminders of people’s recent distress and prompt fears of new earthquakes. 

“I lost my home - the most important thing for a person, the belongings and property I’ve worked for. Everyone wants to live in their own home, their own space,” says Ko Min Lwin*, a meat vendor and community volunteer who also lost his family home in the Sein Pan fire. 

“Even though I am deeply saddened by what I've lost, I don't know how to express it in words,” 

Mental health and psychosocial support was limited in Myanmar even before the earthquake. 

“Some people have now suffered three times; through conflict, displacement and the earthquake. And now, again, they must relocate,” says Ko Hein*, a mental health counsellor. 

“There is a lot of anxiety for them. But there is limited space to discuss these worries.”

Community groups and local volunteers have been crucial in helping affected people navigate these difficult moments. 

MSF mental health teams are supporting these efforts by providing group recreational activities for children and group mental health and psychosocial support sessions at several locations where people are sheltering across the city of Mandalay.

Challenging living conditions

After the earthquake, up to 350 families sheltered in tents at a camp in the village of Sinka, outside Mandalay city.

While many have now returned to their own homes or to stay with relatives, around 30 to 40 families, including children and elderly people, remain living in difficult conditions next to the village football field, an area prone to flooding.

“My wife tried to reach (our seven-year-old daughter) during the shaking, but the tremors were so intense that she couldn’t get to her. Being alone during the quake frightened her deeply,” says Ko Toe Myint*, a community member.

“Since then, she doesn’t want me out of her sight. She insists on sleeping between us at night,”.

For those now living with their families in camps, regular routines have been disrupted and once familiar spaces, including homes, have often disappeared. In such living conditions, it can be difficult for families to maintain a sense of stability, vital for the mental wellbeing of children.

MSF’s group recreational activities for children living in temporary shelter are intended to help provide a space for fun and friendship, where they can enjoy moments of normality together.

At one such session in a tent at the camp, children are quickly engrossed in drawing pictures together, looking up occasionally to sing and swap colouring pens as heavy rain falls outside.

“Children are one of the groups most influenced by their environment,” explains MSF mental health activity manager, Kyoko Araki. 

*Names have been changed.