To mark the one-year anniversary since the devastating Myanmar earthquake, the Emergency Management Committee-Mandalay (EMC-MDY) held a photo exhibition and fundraiser “Shaken but Unbroken” at Lan Din Cafe in Chiang Mai on March 28.
Organizers told DVB that the event was to honor the over 4,000 citizens who lost their lives and to raise funds for those displaced from their homes in three of the six hardest-hit regions: Mandalay, Sagaing, and Magway.
“A year has passed, but for many the recovery hasn’t even begun. Homes that collapsed are still in ruins. People who once owned brick houses are now living in bamboo huts. They cannot rebuild because the economy has collapsed, and the junta provides no meaningful assistance,” May Hnin, an EMC-MDY executive member, told DVB.
The exhibition featured photographs of the devastation left by the most powerful earthquake to strike Myanmar in living memory.
“We need the international community to ensure that humanitarian aid does not become a weapon of war. Direct support to ground-level organizations is the only way to reach those who are being denied help because of their political stance or their location,” added May Hnin.
All proceeds from the Chiang Mai event will go toward humanitarian aid to earthquake survivors living in temporary makeshift camps with a priority on the elderly and those excluded from aid by the military regime due to their involvement in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), which was formed after the 2021 coup to oppose a return to military rule in Myanmar..
The magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, 2025 had its epicenter in Sagaing Region neighbouring Mandalay, the country’s second largest city.
At least 4,477 people were killed nationwide, according to DVB data. The regime documented the death toll at 3,773 with 653 survivors rescued from the rubble of collapsed buildings.
