By Jagan Chapagain, IFRC Secretary General
The young girl was standing off to the side, watching other children dance and laugh. Her hands were clenched at her sides; her eyes fixed on the ground.
The girl looked unsure if she belonged. But then two of our Myanmar Red Cross youth volunteers noticed her.
Without a word, they walked over and began dancing right beside her, respectfully, gently and without pressure. Before long, the young girl was in the spotlight, laughing and jumping with others as if she had always been part of the group.
It was a moment that represented so much of what I saw as I travelled through Myanmar last week — a moment of fear giving way to hope.
As we stopped and visited people in villages and towns most heavily impacted by the March 28 earthquake and its aftershocks, I often felt torn between two strong and competing emotions.
On the one hand, I felt a palpable sense of hope. I saw it in the warm and welcoming faces of people living in desperate conditions, yet able to maintain a sense of determination, humanity and dignity.
On the other hand, I couldn’t help but feel a nagging sense of worry and even dread as people explained how the earthquake had taken away so much of what they held most dear - homes, loved ones, livelihoods and a sense of safety.
These feelings were hard to reconcile because in many places, while there is hope, there is also a very deep and understandable fear about what comes next.
When travelling from Mandalay to Naypyitaw I saw homes, already half-destroyed by the earthquake, now completely brought down by the rain. In many cases, people who had already been displaced by earlier crises, were now forced to start over yet again.
Many are living in tents or crowded homes, facing rising heat with no access to clean water as wells dry up. Combined with the coming monsoon, these conditions are a recipe for outbreaks of diseases like cholera and acute watery diarrhoea.
How do we get ahead of this? Can we get the resources we need to pre-empt the coming rains? How can we help ease people’s fears and give them solid reasons to hope? These are the urgent questions I raised with local authorities, humanitarian partners, Red Cross and Red Crescent colleagues, and donors.
What we are doing to help?
The good news is that throughout my journey in Myanmar, I witnessed a very robust humanitarian response in action. Despite the challenges, its foundation is strong.
In every community I visited, the Myanmar Red Cross, supported by the IFRC, was working tirelessly to support those in need. Remarkably, they have access to 80 percent of the earthquake-affected areas, with dedicated staff and volunteers delivering food, water, and other supplies.
I saw the Myanmar Red Cross running mobile health clinics, repairing water points and creating child-friendly spaces where children could feel comfort and joy.
I saw the Myanmar Red Cross reaching everyone regardless of their background or faith. We visited churches, mosques and temples. This inclusive support builds social cohesion and, most importantly, strengthens community resilience.
I saw incredible generosity as volunteers, many affected themselves, mobilized immediately and remain committed.
But to turn hope into lasting change, we need more shelters, safe spaces for women and girls and expanded health outreach. This means better access to essential medicines and stronger disease prevention measures for vulnerable communities.
We need to continue our critical cash support and increase the distribution of essential household items.
And we need to continue strengthening our integrated protection approach: ensuring dignity in every response, offering protection services for at-risk groups and expanding feedback mechanisms to those that we help.
Now that I’m back in Geneva, I can’t stop thinking about the people I met in the villages and camps across Myanmar. I still feel a mix of emotions. After all, with the monsoon season fast approaching, time is not on our side.
But overall, I returned from my trip hopeful.
If we can rally enough support, the Myanmar Red Cross and its volunteers are more than ready to continue and even expand their efforts to deliver life-saving assistance to their communities. While the window for action is short, the power of collective effort is immense. With solidarity and timely support, we can help protect lives and restore dignity where it’s needed most.