MSF: Myanmar earthquake response and field coordinator voice note

02 April 2025 - Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is continuing to respond to the aftermath of Friday's earthquake in Myanmar.

Our teams in Mandalay and Naypyidaw are assessing the needs while implementing rapid actions such as deploying water tanks, installing related piping materials, pressure pumps and distributing waste bins. They are in constant touch with stakeholders at all levels to set up a broader response, and make their way to the less accessible affected areas.

Mikhael De Souza, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Field Coordinator in Yangon, shares his insights on our teams' initial response to the earthquake, and the first actions carried out by our assessment teams in Mandalay:

"The day after the earthquake hit, around 6.45 in the morning, we were able to send the first team to assess the situation. So this team was based in Yangon around 600 kilometres away from Mandalay. They drove more than 14 hours on a road and we had no idea how good it was. They were able access Mandalay around seven o'clock in the evening.

This team is assessing what help we can bring immediately to these people and also to the health system and to the hospital to cope with the urgent needs.

The thing is, around 500 buildings have totally collapsed and around 800 buildings have been partially destroyed, which means that there's a lot of people living outside in really poor conditions. We've seen huge solidarity amongst the inhabitants of the city.

Water, both in quantity and in quality, is immensely lacking in the whole country and most specifically in the regions affected by the earthquake. As we speak now we are delivering water tanks in the hospital in Mandalay. The lack of water is creating an issue in terms of immediate survival, but could also create an issue in terms epidemics in the future that we definitely want to avoid.

Another pressing issue is that since the earthquake, phone networks have gone down. So it's extremely difficult to contact other regions of the country. So we try and keep on calling our teams and sometimes we are able to talk and sometimes we are not able to talk to know exactly what is happening. So definitely water, electricity, and phone networks are crucially lacking and are an issue for the survival of most people affected by the earthquake."

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