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Emergency Donations

Help the Burmese People

A Myanmar girl eats a meal of rice and peanuts while staying at a shelter, in Kyauktan Township, in southern Myanmar. (AP Photo)

AFSC is responding to the cyclone in Myanmar with immediate assistance to those affected.  The Service Committee is working through local volunteer networks and monastic schools to provide medical supplies, food, fuel, shelter materials and water purification equipment and to support on the ground assessments of short- and long- term needs. Committed to a long-term recovery that is flexible to the needs of the Burmese people, AFSC is building on our ongoing partnerships with community groups and schools.  

Response Update: June 21, 2008

Six weeks after the disastrous cyclone in Burma, the government has declared that the emergency phase is over and that everyone should now return home to rebuild.

Although more supplies and aid workers have been allowed into Yangon since the visit of the UN General Secretary in late May, distribution is still restricted by lack of vehicles and poor infrastructure. The area of need is great, and UN agencies are rightly focusing their first efforts on the most devastated areas.  But many areas in the delta are accessible only by small boats or on foot. Local networks are still providing the critical, and in many cases, the only lifeline for people. Through citizens' networks, monastic and church connections, and efforts by many volunteers, food and basic supplies are getting through. 

AFSC has distributed close to 50 percent of the money raised through our emergency appeal. All of it has been channeled to volunteer groups. AFSC partners with community organizing skills are helping communities set up local structures to receive and distribute aid, drawing in local police, village leaders, spiritual leaders, local organizers, and volunteers. Our partners hope that in this way receiving aid can become an empowering, rather than a disempowering, experience. The current focus is on food security and rebuilding the agriculture and livelihoods base. 

Read more about the relief effort as reported by AFSC's emergency response team on location in Yangon, Myanmar

Response Update: May 16, 2008

Our staff has received a visa from the Government of Myanmar and is now in Yangon with anti-diarrheal medicine and funds for local partner groups.  Since communications are still extremely limited, we do not expect to have many details to report until our Quaker International Affairs Representative returns to Bangkok, Thailand.   We’ll keep you posted on our emergency response and long-term recovery work as it unfolds.

On May 2 and 3, Tropical Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar (Burma), flooding the Irrawaddy Delta. Reports are still coming in about the level of damage from the cyclone and 12-foot high storm surge in the delta. To date, estimates are that 22,000-100,000 people are dead, another 41,000 missing, and some 1 million people without shelter. However, many people are finding shelter in the Buddhist monastic schools and temples. Communication is very difficult, with electricity supplies and telephone services down for much of the disaster area. AFSC’s partners in Yangon, the capital city, report that hundreds of thousands of Burmese people are facing critical food and water shortages.

AFSC’s Approach

The American Friends Service Committee is committed to supporting a community-driven response to natural disasters. Once the immediate needs are met, we stay in the area to work with local community groups on sustainable, long-term recovery.

We are talking with Burmese partner groups about their needs and capacities to provide immediate disaster relief. AFSC has been developing relationships with Burmese partner groups for the past three years, looking to support work in this ostracized country.  Currently, we plan to support the community groups in providing social services and Buddhist monastic schools that feed and teach Burmese children. Over time, as our assessment team makes recommendations and we continue to listen to partners, our plans may change. However, we will stay in the region, responding to the ongoing needs of the Burmese people as they define them.

Currently, we plan to support the community groups in providing social services and Buddhist monastic schools that feed and teach Burmese children. Over time, as our assessment team makes recommendations and we continue to listen to partners, our plans may change. However, we will stay in the region, responding to the ongoing needs of the Burmese people as they define them.

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