Myanmar: Earthquake survivors share their stories
Stories of survival from patients of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières’ (MSF) mobile clinic affected by Myanmar’s earthquake
The earthquake that struck Myanmar has worsened an already dire crisis, leaving millions in need. With around 3,800 people killed and 207,000 displaced, the devastation is staggering. Behind these numbers are people. Hear from three survivors as they recount their experiences.
“I just want my husband back.”
My name is Ma Win Win. I am 38 years old, I’m from the Ayeyarwady region.
My husband and I were having dinner. When it started, he ran to find our son. Then the big glass pot broke and the water was leaking out. He slipped and fell between the kitchen and the main house. As he slipped and fell, the red bricks on top fell one by one. When it all crumbled, I didn’t know what to do.
My head felt like it was burning. Another big stone hit my head. When the shaking was over, a big stone from the house fell and hit my head again.
My father was in Kyaukse on the day of the earthquake. My mother was lucky enough to get out of the house in time.
When the earthquake hit, five people were trapped inside – my child, my sister’s husband, my sister, a little brother and a worker. I was trapped outside, so I was the first to escape. Then my brother-in-law escaped. After he got out and my father got back, they rescued my son – it took five hours to dig him out of the rubble. They found my son wrapped in my sisters’ arms. She did not survive. I lost my husband too – I thought he had escaped because he was the first to start running. My child is too young to lose his father.
We who survived were injured. I had severed the arteries in my wrist. I went to the hospital and clinic in Mandalay right away and they did a surgery. I still bend or stretch my hand and couldn’t work. I came to the clinic today to see how my hand was. When [my] child came out, he had scratches on his head and bruises on his hands. He has been very scared since. I’m afraid it will happen again.
I just want my husband back.
“I was so worried for my four-and-a-half-month-old baby in the other room.”
“There are eight members in my family,” says Khin Myo Khaing. “My youngest daughter has a cough, so I came to the clinic to get her looked at. My sister and I came to the clinic together, she is pregnant. After the earthquake she was not sure that everything was ok, so she came for a check-up.”
“On March 28, we had visitors at our house, we were in the kitchen making rice and frying sigh cakes for them. When the earthquake started, I first thought it was the rain. From the kitchen I called out to my mother: ‘Mom, the rain is coming, it’s raining, it’s raining, it’s raining, it’s raining.’ Then I realized that it wasn’t rain, it was an earthquake.
I was so worried for my four-and-a-half month-old baby in the other room. My mother said, ‘Don’t run, I’ll take care of the baby.’ Then my sister-in-law called out as well, ‘Don’t run, sit down.’ I sat down in the kitchen with my six-year-old daughter, we almost fell to the ground. The wooden chair we had just been sitting on tumbled and hit my head, but I was lucky.
I’m 35 years old and have never experienced such a violent earthquake. I shouted to our older neighbours to get out of the house. My grandmother is paralyzed, so, of course, she couldn’t walk, but she said, ‘Don’t come to me, I’ll slip under this bed.’
No one was hurt. When the second earthquake hit, the whole family and I were in the large field in front of the house. Grandma was also taken out in a wheelchair.”
“We first thought it was a mine or a bomb… it sounded so familiar.”
“We are a family of three: My wife, my daughter and me,” says Thein Zaw.
“I’m working in a tea shop. On March 28, we were all there on the fourth floor making cakes – moon cakes and samosas for the next day. I was about to open the shop, so I was putting away the ingredients and at that moment, I heard a loud bang.
To be honest, we first thought it was a mine or a bomb. We came here from a conflict zone. It sounded so familiar.
Then the Buddha statue fell, and when it fell, my wife said: ‘Earthquake, earthquake, earthquake, sit down,’ and sat herself down on the floor. I have only one leg – we had a motorcycle accident two and a half years ago. I have learned to run with only one leg, but I kept thinking, ‘We are on the fourth floor. That is too far, we can’t run.’ I protected my daughter and my wife protected me. The house was shaking. When the first earthquake stopped, we tried to get out. A glass jar fell and pressed on my leg, I could not get up. We had to move things to get out of the house.
When the aftershock hit, we were on the road in a rickshaw – we wanted to go home. We are renting an apartment. The house was still there, so we all went home.
Many buildings in our neighbourhood have collapsed. There were not enough ambulances. We were able to help carry the sick and the dead with our tricycle. We did what we could. When we see those collapsed buildings, we feel very bad. In my heart, it’s not good.
My daughter’s hand was slightly injured. It wasn’t too bad. But when she hears a loud sound now, she wants to run. Her heart is beating fast in her chest and she’s very scared. She used to want to live in a big building with three or four floors, but now she feels very scared after this earthquake. She is in third grade now.
What we worry about most now is that many people are saying that there is a storm coming. I am thinking about it and it’s getting hot.
We came to the clinic in the monastery because I have pain in my amputated leg, my wife has headaches and we needed family planning. When we heard that there is a clinic, we came.”
