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Context Analysis
On March 28th, a 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck Myanmar, with a significant impact on thecountry. 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.
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 (likely to be further confirmed and detailed in coming days and weeks):
Shelter needs: Emergency tarpaulins, tents, and building materials are needed for families who lost their homes. Many are sleeping outdoors in unsafe conditions, increasing their risk of exposure to the element especially ahead of the start of the rainy season.
Protection needs: Women and girls face heightened risks of gender-based violence (GBV) in overcrowded shelters. Limited access to safe spaces, reproductive health services, and protection mechanisms is leaving many at risk, while GBV case management services remain underfunded.
WASH needs: Initial findings highlight an urgent need for safe drinking water, sanitation facilities and hygiene kits. Many communities are facing disruptions to water supply systems, which increases the risk of waterborne diseases.
Food Security/MPCA needs: Food access has been severely disrupted due to damaged supply chains, market access, and infrastructure. Food assistance and re-establishing market supplies and access remain a priority in target locations.
Livelihoods needs: Over 3.7 million hectares of cropland were exposed to the earthquake. Rural livelihoods in the affected areas rely on cropping, livestock, and fishing, with the primary planting season set to begin in June 2025. The destruction of grain storage facilities, agricultural inputs, equipment and irrigation infrastructure will severely impact food security and economic stability. The ability to restore productive capacity will be critical in supporting affected communities' recovery.
Education / Child Protection needs: Child protection needs following the disaster include severe psychosocial distress, family separation, unaccompanied or separated children, trafficking, and unsafe migration. Many children have been separated from their families, increasing their vulnerability to exploitation and trafficking. With schools destroyed and child protection services overstretched, thousands of children lack access to education, psychosocial support, and basic necessities.
In Southern Shan State, the recent rapid needs assessments (RNAs) conducted by HEKS partners across 31 village tracts in Southern Shan State, including Pinlaung and Inle Lake areas, a total of 12,000 individuals were identified as being in need of immediate humanitarian assistance. The crisis has severely impacted nearly 70% of the Inle Lake region, with urgent needs reported in food, water, shelter, and medicine. Livelihoods have been severely disrupted because of the earthquake.
However, it is important to note, as reported by COAR – Myanmar Earthquake Rapid Assessment (April 3rd), that ‘the scale of damage from the earthquakes is still being understood. Less than a week later, accounts of deaths, damage, displacement, homelessness, and needs are still being tabulated, and rescue operations are still underway. Both local and international response organizations are carrying out critical functions in collecting data and also reporting on changes — made particularly challenging as the SAC has tried to prevent outside journalists from covering the situation. However, one thing is clear: responding to this crisis will require international actors to take a different approach than that often used in other emergency or natural disaster contexts. This is due in large part to the consistent hostility of the SAC toward both international and local aid actors’.