Myanmar: How you can help

Life in Yangon is returning to normality as much as can be expected but the humanitarian situation in the Irrawaddy Delta is still very difficult to cope with.

It is estimated that up to two million people are homeless with no shelter, no clean water and little food.

 It will take a long time for emotional wounds to heal, but today there are still hundreds of thousands of people fighting for their lives.

Saving lives is the top priority.



Many of you have asked what is the best way to help.

 All our staff and their families including all guides and drivers are fine.

Five staff have completely lost their houses and all their belongings; many had smaller scale damages to their houses. We have received generous donations from Kuoni as well as from Asian Trails managers and staff, and can therefore help all of them to start re-building their homes and their lives.



The charity organisations we support since many years including the Mary Champan School for the Deaf, the Old People’s home in Yangon and many others are also able to cope with the situation at the moment through the help of their regular donors.



Where money is really needed is in support of the victims in the Irrawaddy Delta. Due to the overwhelming complexity of distribution, access and procurement we are not in a position to help directly and to send our own staff with supplies into the delta.

We simply do not have the skills to help effectively and efficiently in such a situation. We are concentrating our efforts in donating and obtaining money for organisations which have the experience in handling humanitarian catastrophes.



It is our opinion that some of the most effective organisations are local NGOs and in particularly the Metta Development Foundation.

The Metta Development Foundation (www.metta-myanmar.org) was part of the tsunami relief efforts in southern Myanmar and have maintained a presence in the Irrawaddy Delta
which is now being utilised.

They are non-political and non-military. The organisation has over 450 committed staff members and nearly 11 years experience in the field.

Their project workers in the cyclone-affected areas were out helping the day after the storm hit and have impacted about 2,100 lives in the past six days.

Coordinating with UNWFP, UNICEF, UNDP, ADRA and PACT, Metta is currently distributing food, water, medical supplies and living essentials to the refugee camps in Ayeyarwaddy Division.

They are dedicating 100% of funds given to the cyclone victims towards getting to and assisting the affected people (administration and overhead costs will be absorbed by the organisation).

Please email one of Metta’s founders, Seng Raw, at [email protected] for information on how to transfer funds to them.

Note that the trade embargo on Myanmar has been temporarily lifted and that transfer of funds to Myanmar bank accounts via UOB Bank in Singapore are temporarily possible to Myanmar NGOs.



Asian Trails is trying to help Metta source needed goods through our contacts in Thailand and to organise transport back to Myanmar.



You can also email myself ([email protected]) or Mika at [email protected] for more information.



What will help the country get back on their feet and generate income for tens of thousands of people is your support to bring tourists back to the country as quickly as possible.

None of the tourist areas have been affected by the cyclone with the exception of a few hotels in Yangon and the entire tourism infrastructure is fully functional.
This might contradict what you see on your TV stations, but what you see is the disaster in the Irrawaddy Delta and part of the outskirts of Yangon.

Nobody shows Bagan, Mandalay, Inle Lake, Ngapali Beach and Ngwe Saung Beach where life goes on as usual.

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