Introduction"We travelled to the earthquake epicenter, passing through mixed-control areas with visible military and Pyu Saw Htee militia checkpoints. We had to hide our relief supplies and disguise our route. We saw homes flattened and people waiting without hope. What we witnessed was devastating: flattened homes and people waiting in despair. But alongside the fear of the earthquake was another, more insidious fear—that of the soldiers. Here, being a humanitarian doesn’t offer protection; it makes you a target."
This stark account comes from a staff member of a local civil society organisation (CSO), who is also from the affected community working alongside an all-female, on-the-ground response team to deliver earthquake relief in the Dry Zone region of Myanmar. Their experience underscores a critical reality in Myanmar today.
On March 28, 2025, a 7.7-magnitude earthquake – the strongest in a century – ripped through Myanmar, leaving a trail of flattened homes, collapsed monasteries, mosques, churches, and a staggering toll of over 3,648 lives lost, 4,817 injured, and hundreds still missing. The cities of Sagaing and Mandalay bore the brunt of the devastation, with entire neighborhoods reduced to rubble.
This catastrophe struck communities already reeling from the floods of 2024 and the ongoing impact of airstrikes, village raids, and systemic neglect in areas outside the control of the military State Administration Council (SAC) which seized power in a 2021 coup. According to the UNHCR, over 20 million people in the earthquake-impacted regions, including 1.55 million internally displaced persons within the disaster zone, face a complex and escalating crisis – a polycrisis where armed conflict, climate disaster and a chronic humanitarian emergency converge. | 
