Myanmar 1 Year On
More than 130,000 people, including tens of thousands of children, died or disappeared, whilst more than 1 million people lost their homes when a cyclone tore through the southern Myanmar on 2-3 May 2008. The agriculture and fishing industries in the Irrawaddy Delta were devastated, leaving families with no way to earn an income or feed themselves.
In the months following Cyclone Nargis, Save the Children was able to mount one of its largest emergency responses in its history. To date Save the Children has helped 137,000 children get back into school; supported 40,000 families with cash grants to restart their livelihoods; and provided 60,000 people with drinking water through the height of the dry season, among other programmes.
Now, one year after Cyclone Nargis devastated southern Myanmar, Save the Children continues to support children and families in areas hardest hit by the storm, working to improve their lives and well-being through education, health, clean water, sanitation, nutrition and livelihoods programmes. In all, Save the Children has assisted over 600,000 people, nearly one-quarter of them children, who were most affected by the storm.
Preparing communities for the future
We are aware that a disaster like Nargis could happen again and communities need to be prepared. Save the Children is working with communities across the Irrawaddy Delta to help them prepare for future natural disasters.
One of the ways we are doing this is by encouraging children to draw maps of their village and identify the high ground and strongest buildings.
“The maps help children work out what they should do and where they should go if disaster strikes again,” said spokeswoman Anna Ford.
“During Cyclone Nargis many people ran to their fishing boats but they sank and thousands of people drowned. Now the children know that if they go to the village monastery, which is normally made of stone and on high ground, they stand a much better chance of surviving.”
Save the Children is also giving villagers tuition and providing them with materials so that they can rebuild damaged schools to withstand storms of up to 125 miles per hour.
They include simple construction devices like U-shaped brackets to secure the roof to the rafters, screws instead of nails and cross-beams in the roof.
Htun Aung Kyaw’s school in Pein Nae Chaung village was damaged during the cyclone. Now he and the other pupils are helping to rebuild it. “We really need a good, strong school like this one,” the nine-year-old said.
“If there is another Nargis the school will not fall down and people can come and shelter here.”
In addition to providing a safe place to seek refuge during the storm, the “safer schools” also mean it is less likely that children will drop out of full-time education, Save the Children said.
Save the Children in Myanmar
Save the Children has been working to improve the lives and well-being of children and families in Myanmar for about 14 years. The agency, which had 500 staff members in country when the cyclone struck, launched an immediate and sustained relief effort, providing lifesaving and life-sustaining assistance to storm survivors as well as working to reunite separated children with their families, provide health services, get children back into school and support them in their emotional and psychological recovery.
More on our response
Find out more: Save the Children's emergency response in Myanmar
Read the One Year On Report [Adobe PDF 4 Mb]
Eye Witness Accounts
Voices: Jasmine Whitbread (CEO Save the Children UK) Revisiting the Irrawaddy Delta
Photoessay: 'Safe Schools' in Myanmar (BBC In Pictures)
Voices: Mother who refuses to give up hope
Voices Mimi Jakobsen, CEO Save the Children Denmark: Stories from Myanmar
Voices: One Year Later: Min Min's Story
Voices: Myanmar villagers still struggle a year after cyclone
Video: Cyclone Nargis One Year On - Kyaw Kyaw Min is 16, and the sole provider for his two younger siblings since he lost both parents to Nargis. He and other child orphans tell their story
Video: Building Back Better: Preparing Communities
Video: Save the Children providing communities with clean water in Myanmar
Press Release
One Year after Cyclone Nargis, Save the Children Meets Families’ Ongoing Needs (30 April 2009)