On March 28th, a 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck Myanmar, with a significant impact on the country. The earthquake’s epicenter was located approximately 20 km northeast of Mandalay at a depth of 10 km, followed by a second aftershock of 6.4-magnitude. In response, Myanmar’s military junta declared a state of emergency in several affected regions, including Sagaing, Mandalay, Magway, northeastern Shan State, the Naypyitaw Council Area, and Bago.
The ACT Alliance forum in Myanmar consider this earthquake as a major crisis in the country. With the current ongoing security situation and conflicts, the current earthquake aggravated the overall situation. According to UN and government reports in Myanmar the current official death count is at least 1600 people have been killed, and many injured. The US Geological Survey estimated that the death toll could top 10,000. Efforts have been hampered by the shortages of heavy machinery. From the figures Mandalay state is one of the worst affected state in Myanmar with a population of around 1.2 million people. According to media and government sources, almost all the state has been badly affected.
The earthquake caused extensive damage across multiple sectors. Healthcare facilities are overwhelmed, with hospitals in the affected regions suffering structural damage and struggling to accommodate the growing number of casualties. Transportation infrastructure has also been disrupted, with significant damage reported to roads, bridges, and key transport routes, which has hampered rescue and relief efforts.
Despite the continuously evolving crisis on the ground and communication challenges affecting needs assessments from the humanitarian community, several needs can already be underlined from rapid needs assessments conducted by the consortium’s local partners as well as the wider humanitarian community.
The rapid need assessments conducted by the ACT Alliance revealed that Food, NFIs, Shelter, Mental Health, WASH, livelihood are the main needs of the affected population.
ACT Alliance members Christian AID, Finn Church Aid and Swiss Church Aid (HEK/EPER) together with their local implementing partners have developed this appeal to address the urgent needs of around 60,000 affected people. The appeal is designed for a period of 12 months with a focus on providing Cash Assistance, shelters support, Food & NFIs distribution, WASH services, Education and Psycho-social support to the traumatized people. The total amount requested in the appeal is 5 million USD.
