New Humanity brings hope through youth in quake cripled Myanmar

The NGO, supported by the PIME Foundation, is bringing aid to the areas most affected by the earthquake of 28 March, aggravated by four years of civil war. In Mandalay and on Inle Lake thousands of houses have been destroyed, as the aid workers report. The young people at the Dayamit centre, on the outskirts of Yangon, prepare meals for the survivors.

Yangon (AsiaNews) - Intervention efforts are still focused on responding to the basic needs of the people of Myanmar after the earthquake that struck the country a week ago, already bent under the weight of a civil war that has lasted for more than four years.

‘By now they are moving the rubble to clear the streets rather than to look for the missing, who are assumed to be dead’, says José Magro, a humanitarian worker for New Humanity International, an NGO supported by the PIME Foundation that has been working in the country since before the outbreak of the civil conflict.

There are over 3,000 dead and more than 5,000 people injured according to the official data communicated by the ruling junta, but it is assumed that the figure is much higher.

The NGO teams have started to bring aid to Lake Inle - which was badly hit because it is surrounded by hundreds of houses on stilts - and to Mandalay, one of the worst affected areas together with the Sagaing region, where the military junta, despite announcing a cessation of hostilities, has continued to bomb the villages along the front line. ‘We already knew the area around the lake because in October, after typhoon Yagi passed, we had tried to help out after the floods’, explain the aid workers on site.

According to initial assessments carried out by New Humanity, over 1,000 houses have been destroyed in Inle and more than 300 have been damaged. Food, drinking water and shelter in preparation for the rainy season, which will begin shortly, are still the most urgent needs, even now, a week after the earthquake. Connections are still sporadic and in all the affected areas there is still no electricity supply, except for a couple of hours a day. Diesel, which is needed to power the generators, is one of the most sought-after goods at the moment.

Another aid lorry left for Mandalay a few days ago, carrying water, food, medicine and solar panels. ‘We collected a lot of medicines to help the patients at the hospital in Mandalay, which was completely destroyed’, explains Magro. ‘A doctor and some nurses who have been working with us for some time also took part in the expedition’, added the aid worker. Some aid has already been distributed thanks to the collaboration with the archdiocese, which suffered enormous damage: ‘The situation is worse than we imagined. Many houses have been destroyed, the markets are no longer there, people don't know where to stay or where to go’.

Once the kits have been prepared, the real difficulty is reaching the population in the most isolated areas, ‘but we are succeeding thanks to the collaboration of many friends, both here and by sending donations’, continues José Magro. It was the boys and girls who attend a training centre run by New Humanity who cooked the food sent to their fellow countrymen under the rubble: in the southern outskirts of Yangon, the NGO supports the Dayamit Community College, which gives a second chance to young people who have dropped out of school due to poverty and who in most cases do casual work earning three euros a day.

At Dayamit they attend professional courses with a view to finding stable employment. ‘The young people who attend our cooking courses have set to work to prepare dried, non-perishable food to be included in the aid kits sent to Mandalay,’ the New Humanity operators explained. ‘The next step will be to help families gradually rebuild their history and their lives. We have no illusions, it will be a long job. But in the meantime we thank everyone, including those in Italy, who are giving us a hand’.

(photo: New Humanity)

To respond to the humanitarian emergency, the PIME Foundation has decided to launch a fundraiser for Myanmar. The funds will be used to bring aid to those affected by the earthquake through the NGO New Humanity International, which has been active in the country for years and has mobilised its local network for rescue operations.

Donations can be made with the reason for payment ‘S001 Emergencies - Earthquake in Myanmar and Thailand’:

• online directly at this link

• by bank transfer to Fondazione Pime OnlusIBAN IT89M0623001633000015111283(please send a copy of the bank transfer by email to uam@pimemilano.com indicating your name, surname, address, place and date of birth, tax code)

• to the postal current account no. 39208202 in the name of Fondazione Pime Onlus via Monte Rosa, 81 – 20149 Milan

• in cash or by cheque at the Pime Centre in Milan in via Monte Rosa 81 from Monday to Friday (9.00-12.30 and 13.30-17.30)