This fundraise is being facilitated by myself, Sam Clark, on behalf of Win Zaw, based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and the CEO of Asia Expeditions. My company, Experience Travel Group partnered with Win Zaw and Asia Expeditions in Myanmar for over ten years until the covid pandemic and the military coup and subsequent civil war.
We will raise the money on his behalf and personally transfer it to him to send to the victims of this quake. I will be contributing personally and via the company. Win Zaw's work to support the victims of government oppression in Myanmar has been stellar, and he will ensure that help is directed where it is needed most. I trust him implicitly to do what he promises and far more.
Win says that his "intention is to help those victims of the earthquake who will never get aid from the military".
In his own words:
"To all my friend near and far, I am sure everyone heard about M7.7 earthquake in Myanmar on 28th March. Mandalay and Sagaing where our friend and families are living is the most suffering and many lives have been loss and families are in desperate need of help from us. We are trying to collect as much as possible to support these families. I myself sincerely appeal to you all and any contribution would goes to the people we know in Mandalay and the region.
Please aware that Burma was under civil war and most of the surrounding area are controlled by local PDF ( People Defense Army), so any humanitarian aids will never reach to those people who suffer the most. We have our way to support them and all your contributions will reach to the right organization.
Thank you so much for your prayers as well as your contributions. We appreciate it on behalf of all victims."
For more information:
https://www.facebook.com/share/14z2NFnMhT/?mibextid=wwXIfr
I'm an avid reader of Erin Cook's Dari Mulut newsletter about Southeast Asian news. She had this to say today (March 31st, 2025):
"Another report from Myanmar Now underscores the scale of disaster for the city. Mandalay’s crematoriums have been overwhelmed as families and communities bring in the dead. “Yesterday, we cremated over 300 bodies. This morning, more than 200 have already been processed,” one resident of a cremation centre told the outlet yesterday.
An MN reporter also found that families have been forced to cremate the dead outside of designated cremation centres. “At first, they were cremating one by one, but now there are so many that people have started arranging their own cremations outside the cemeteries,” the reporter said.
Going by what Thar Nge, a resident of Sagaing, told Al Jazeera, it sounds like the official death toll will rise further throughout the week. “Now with every gust of wind, the smell of dead bodies fills the air … At this point, more bodies are being recovered than survivors,” he said. Sagaing, closest to the epicentre of the quake, was essentially cut off from nearby Mandalay after the Ava Bridge collapsed. Rescue workers are beginning to enter the city, he said.
Thar Nge’s story is a rare one. We’ve had a lot of coverage of how Thailand, and Bangkok especially, responded over the weekend but relatively slim pickings from Myanmar itself. This is the inevitable outcome of low connectivity, exacerbated by a military junta controlling information with a tight fist.
“Compare the coverage of the earthquake in Thailand, where tremors and damage have been extensively reported, posted and documented, to Myanmar, where we still don’t have a clear picture of the extent of the damage and loss and may not for some time,” Joe Freeman at Amnesty warned the New York Times.
Pair tricky connectivity and communications with a tricky relationship to international aid and it’s clear the disaster isn’t just the quake itself. The military junta has, since 2021, refused international aid a few times when it was desperately needed and fears of a repeat have prompted many in Myanmar and abroad to lobby would-be donors to engage with opposition groups directly. Many of these groups, including ethnic armed organisations and the people’s defence forces, are organised and, in parts, trusted so it’s certainly a plausible proposal.
‘The regime will delay, obstruct and control aid distribution. Sagaing, a resistance stronghold, is unlikely to receive any help. The junta’s corruption and mismanagement are deeply ingrained. How can a regime waging war against its own people be trusted to deliver aid? The Myanmar military is notorious for siphoning off such assistance,’ the Irrawaddy wrote in an editorial.
The paper’s message is clear (and widely held): ‘The world must stand with Myanmar’s people — not the war criminals in Naypyitaw.’
For the full newsletter, read here.