Devastating 7.7 Magnitude Earthquake Tips Myanmar Into Humanitarian Crisis

Yangon, Myanmar - Mercy Corps is preparing to scale-up our existing programs to meet urgent needs following a powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck near Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city, on March 28. The earthquake has caused extensive damage, deepening the crisis for communities already affected by economic instability and ongoing conflict. Mercy Corps is supporting its partners to assess the situation and identify rapid and suitable response work in coordination with local actors. 

According to UN reports, critical infrastructure has been severely damaged across the impact zone, including the collapse of a major bridge and several nursery schools in Mandalay. Electricity is down across the region, with few homes escaping damage. Authorities have declared a state of emergency in Sagaing, Mandalay, Magway, northern Shan State, Bago, and the Naypyidaw regions. 
 

Mercy Corps Regional Director for Middle East, Europe, and Asia, Arnaud Quemin, says: 

"Mercy Corps is working to assess what people most urgently need. Our colleagues in Myanmar describe the situation as dire—this earthquake has struck at the heart of an area which has endured years of conflict and economic hardship." 

"Even before this disaster, nearly 20 million people in Myanmar were in dire need of humanitarian aid, with up to 4 million internally displaced due to ongoing conflict. Shrinking international funding has already made survival even harder, and the World Food Program predicted earlier this year that 15 million people would face severe food insecurity." 

In our experience, people urgently need shelter, food, water and cash assistance to meet their basic needs in the immediate aftermath of an earthquake and rebuild for the future. Mercy Corps has been working in Myanmar since 2008, and reached over 600,000 people since 2022 with economic opportunities, and green agricultural growth in the face of worsening climate change, and community resilience.