On March 28, whilst eating lunch outside a Buddhist temple in Bagan, the ground and trees started shaking, the dogs started barking and the locals started shouting and banging cooking utensils. Little did we know that in Mandalay and other parts of Myanmar many buildings would collapse and people would die.
We had planned to visit Lake Inle a few days later but after several calls and emails we discovered that the hotel we were booked into had, along with many people’s ‘stilt’ houses, simply fallen into the lake.
A shortage of flight stopped us returning to Yangon so we travelled to Kalaw and there we met with a well connected tourist guide who knew what was happening on the lake. We asked if there was any way we could help. After phone calls with a group of nurses and a friend who had visited the lake, it sounded like medical supplies and money to rebuild houses, given directly, was the best way forward.
We contacted some friends in the UK who were able to send us some money quickly and we were able to change our ‘emergency dollars’ into local currency and make a plan to visit the lake. We bought $150 of medical supplies, booked a boat and planned an early morning start.
Visiting the lake the destruction was massive. Houses and temples were on their sides and nothing except a few posts were what remained of other buildings. There are 28 villages on the lake and we understand that over 2000 houses were damaged or lost completely.
We managed to visit 2 separate villages and the nurses gave out vitamins, diarrhoea medication and antibiotics and checked the blood pressure of more than 100 people from age 2 months to 82 years. We also gave out $450 in cash to 50 families.
We’d like to raise more money to give out to these villagers to help them rebuild their houses.
Building materials (mainly bamboo) and labour are cheap. But constructing houses takes time and with the rainy season less than 2 months way there is real urgency. The cost of repairs will vary but to build a new bamboo house will cost around 10€ per square meter..
Your donation will go directly into the hands of people who really need it. Your money will come into our bank account then we’ll transfer it to the local tourist guide. We trust him 100%. He will go down to the lake and will speak with village elders and agree who needs the money most and how much to give them.
We didn’t see much evidence of NGO or government support, we imagine that much of this is focused in Mandalay where the destruction was greater. We did however see lots of community support - church groups, school groups and groups of friends were visiting villages and donating food, clothing and tarpaulins.
In the meantime, thanks very much for your donation, it will make a huge difference to the people of the beautiful Inle Lake.
Here's a link to the Go Fund Me Page.
