“No electricity for a year, maybe longer. But we are all well.” My cousin’s WhatsApp message pings from Yangon. He was lucky to find a connection. Much to my relief, my relatives are unharmed – albeit distressed and anxious about what lies ahead. That morning, 28 March, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake had struck the central zone of Myanmar, lasting for 85 seconds. Maddeningly, it took a while for news to come from Myanmar. When it did start to emerge, it was catastrophic.
Mandalay, the second largest city, has seen 60 to 80 per cent of its infrastructure destroyed. Naypidaw, the capital since 2005, is now a series of collapsed buildings. Sagaing has lost 90 per cent of its buildings, with the smell of death pervading the city and rescue efforts delayed following the collapse of the historic Ava Bridge. Mostly, the news has become a question of numbers. Some 3,600 dead, says the military junta. The US Geological Society puts the figure at 10,000 and more. The military, renowned for suppressing casualty statistics, has taken the unusual step of asking for help from the wider international community. Charities have issued appeals for funds. But the question many are asking – privately and publicly – is how will help get to those people who need it most?
“There are definitely difficulties operating in Myanmar,” says Vicky Bowman, who served as UK ambassador to Myanmar between 2002 and 2006. “But there are lots of local groups on the ground who work with international NGOs based outside of the country. They keep in close contact and have mobilised to make a response, so you don’t need to be concerned about your donations ending up with military groups.” Her own experience within the country means she knows many of the community leaders personally, and she points to positive work being done by organisations such as Community Partners International, Prospect Burma, Parami and Medical Action Myanmar.
Most of the damage is in the area occupied by the military, but also encroaches into opposition-held territory. A ceasefire was promised to help with earthquake relief, but reports have emerged of continued clashes in certain areas. As the heavy rains of the monsoon begin, the clean-up is being hampered from all sides. “It’s a huge earthquake,” says Bowman. “I’ve never seen anything so devastating, especially coming as it does four years after people are at their lowest ebb economically.” She points out that Mandalay had been thriving as a hub of trade between India and China, but borders were closed off due to the conflict. “Agriculture is also suffering as the result of floods last year.”
The poor infrastructure and internet connection (which is often shut down by the military) is hampering rescue attempts. Images that show police helping to clean up the rubble at monasteries are likely to be for propaganda purposes, says one of my cousins, angry that they’re not helping the people affected. For survivors, the intense heat (temperatures hover around 40C in the daytime) and the lack of electricity make life next to impossible. “People sleep outside – even Yangon has barely any electricity, which means people can’t pump water,” says Bowman. A conscription law introduced last February prompted an exodus of young people – crucial to any efforts to rebuild – from the country, and doctors are wary of volunteering in Naypidaw and Mandalay, in case it turns out to be a cynical ploy by the military to conscript them.
Poverty is rife. “US AID [which has been all but eliminated by the Trump administration] represented over a third of the humanitarian response in Myanmar last year,” says Bowman. “It was pretty much entirely cut overnight. Myanmar has had $14m from China, $10m from the UK, $8m from Norway, and so far $2m from the US.” The cost of rice has gone up by almost 400 per cent since the coup, as has oil, and a third of the people are existing below the UN poverty line. “Several million are facing severe food shortages that have nothing to do with the earthquake,” says one NGO worker who wishes to remain anonymous. “The UN should be all over this.” Grassroots charities are often reluctant to speak publicly as it affects their ability to operate – they need to keep a low profile for fear of military retaliation.
But with several ongoing global crises, where will the help come from? With the UK facing its own economic hardships, it is a big ask to prioritise aid for a country many think has nothing to do with them. And yet, of course, Britain has a big connection with Myanmar, where colonial rule lasted until 1948. As a product of that colonial past (my mother was half Burmese, half Irish) when I launched my fragrance Catch Me If I Fall back in September, one of my goals was to shine a light on this very special country.
With Myanmar, I often find shared connections in curious places. At a recent breakfast designed to bring my worlds of beauty and fashion together with my Burmese community, I learned that fashion stylist Susan Bender Whitfield spent her honeymoon there. Tim Walker famously shot for W magazine there (although it wasn’t well received by the Burmese who regarded the use of monks’ parasols as sacrilegious). The late, half-Burmese Kamen brothers, Nick and Barry, currently feature in The Face exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. Walking around the perfume hall in Bergdorf’s in New York one day last December, I struck up a conversation with a beauty assistant. “Myanmar you mean?” she said, when I referred to the country by its older name, Burma. “One of my best friends cooks me Mohinga, it’s my favourite dish,” she said. Myanmar is a country that grabs you by the heart and never lets you go.
Now, so much of what we love has disappeared. “The Burmese are not just losing thousands of lives, we are losing our culture and history,” posted food writer and activist MiMi Aye, whose roots are firmly entrenched in Mandalay, where multiple pagodas have been destroyed. It’s the equivalent of seeing Notre Dame burn down many times over.
Last November, I visited for 24 hours while staying in Bangkok, to see my relatives and take some bottles of the fragrance to the Governor’s Residence hotel (where all of the proceeds from perfume sold goes to support Medical Action Myanmar). It was the most wonderful day and night spent just outside the city, in a beautiful spot lit by fireflies, isolated from the civil war. My cousins were feeling the weight of the world on their shoulders – two of their three children were in hiding from the military to avoid conscription. Yet they still remained hopeful. “We are the lucky ones, I can still find food,” my cousin said. “Others are really struggling.”
“In a way, the best thing that could come out of this situation is for there to be a political shift,” says the anonymous NGO worker. “Hoping for democracy would be like hoping for the moon; we can only hope for stability. It’s important for people to know this is not a simple conflict – it’s like Syria was 15 years ago.” One social media activist tells me: “After entering an era of fragile democracy, then being hit by one thing after another – covid, a coup, an earthquake, and still having their own ‘government’ trying to murder them all – we really feel we can’t catch a break right now.”
So what can we do? Here are some ways to help:
- Write to your MP and ask them to make humanitarian aid in Myanmar a priority, pointing out any personal connections and referencing our strong shared history.
- If you wish to donate, where possible, choose charities with low overheads and strong local connections, like those listed in this article.
- Stay informed. Follow content creators and activists like @meemalee and @maymyatnoe_may, and subscribe to news updates from The Irrawaddy, Radio Free Asia and Democratic Voice of Burma.
- The Disasters Emergency Commmittee’s appeal matches every pound you donate with a pound from the government.
Besides that, learn more about Myanmar. Cook from Mandalay, MiMi Aye’s excellent recipe book. Try a pickled tea leaf salad or some balachaung – a condiment made from caramelised dried shrimps and crispy fried garlic – both served at Lahpet. Read Thant Myint-U’s excellent and readable accounts of how critical Myanmar once was to the world, or pick up a copy of George Orwell’s classic Burmese Days, or dip into the memoir of my mother’s childhood, A World Overturned, for a child’s view of Burma under Japanese occupation. Enjoy fragrances from brands like Gabar, or mine, La Pyae Apothecary – we are donating 10 per cent of proceeds to Medical Action Myanmar for April.
