Many of you have been in touch to check how our team and makers are doing following Friday's earthquake in Burma. Our immediate team and their families are ok. We are still trying to get hold of some of our makers who live close to the epicentre, but this is proving difficult as power is extremely sparse, making communication patchy. We will hopefully know more in the coming days.
Everybody is in shock. It is hard to process how this has happened against the backdrop of prolonged and painful civil war which has already made day-to-day life unimaginably challenging.
The true extent of the damage will take time to emerge. The death toll has been estimated at 10,000 to 100,000, the huge spread an indicator of the dearth of information available. Facebook, the main communication channel in Burma, is banned by the military and is only accessible through VPNs. Since the 2021 coup, the number of journalists on the ground has dwindled, so reporters are thin on the ground.
Sagaing, Mandalay and the surrounding area desperately need water, power, equipment to clear debris, medical supplies and blood. It is extremely hot, with temperatures approaching 40 degrees, but clean drinking water is limited. Hospitals were already at breaking point, and now they simply cannot cope. Many of the hardest-hit areas are conflict zones, so routes in and were difficult before Friday and many are now impossible. The search for survivors is therefore extremely difficult, as is access for aid; roads from Thailand and China are blocked, the airports are closed due to damage and the main bridges have been destroyed, blocking river access too.
The resilience and spirit of the Burmese people did not need testing again. The effects of this, in the context of everything that has been thrown at them in recent years, will be deep and extremely painful.
Many of you have asked how you can help. The below are targeted locally-led relief programmes, the directors of which are either known to us, or to people we know.
1. Myanmar Earthquake Emergency by British Red Cross
https://donate.redcross.org.uk/appeal/myanmar-earthquake-emergency
2. UNICEF
https://help.unicef.org/myanmar-earthquake
3. SONNE-Emergency Relief Fund
https://www.sonne-international.org/en/myanmar-hilfe
4. Doh Eain
https://www.gofundme.com/f/earthquake-relief-and-recovery-support-for-myanmar
As a business, we are donating to Doh Eain. These groups are physically in the area and are best placed to make sure the money goes where it is most acutely needed. We have also placed our orders for an entire year with the makers in the affected area, which involves 50% deposit payments. This is direct cash to people living in what is now excruciating hardship. We will also help with our logistical network where we can to help them rebuild their personal homes and businesses.
From the UK, we will double down on sales efforts so that we can continue to funnel in deposit payments. We want to make sure that we are doing everything we can to provide consistency within unimaginable chaos.
Thank you to everybody who has messaged - it is a huge comfort to our team in Yangon in particular.
xx
