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Back in May 2008, an extremely severe cyclone, Cyclone Nargis, made landfall along the coastal areas of Myanmar, causing massive devastation including 138,366 dead and missing persons. In response, SEEDS Asia has been working in some of the cyclone affected districts for the last 13 years, with a strong determination to capacitate local communities and help reduce their risk of similar tragedies in the future. Our activities in Myanmar have included – technical assistance for construction of temporary housings, school DRR project, Mobile Knowledge Resource Centre (MKRC), Water Knowledge Resource Centre (WKRC), capacity building of government officials and engineers engaging in DRR, and DRR learning centres jointly run by schools and communities.

It is, in fact, before/after Myanmar’s monsoon seasons (May-October) that cyclones are most likely to occur. With the ongoing COVID pandemic and other developmental challenges, cyclone risks have the potential to increase and compound the suffering of the local people, which would also affect international relief operations in the country. We at SEEDS Asia sincerely hope that the seeds that we had sown in the past will now be in a position to better protect local communities.