We Had Everything Then Nothing: 100 Days After the Earthquake, the Wait for Home Continues

The lime tree behind Daw Than Than Htay’s house had always been her shaded afternoon spot. On 28 March, it became her shield.

“The ground groaned, the roof cracked, and a brown cloud wrapped around us,” she recalls. She and her sister sprinted and sought protection behind the trunk, just before the back wall fell. Inside, their eighty-year-old aunt clawed her way out from under the rubble. “We saw her hand and pulled until she was free.” Moments later, an aftershock flattened the rest of the house. Neighbours thought the three of them were gone.

Today, the family lives in a makeshift shelter pieced together from salvaged beams and twisted roofing sheets. A blue tarpaulin hangs across the space where their front door once stood. “The clothes I am wearing are all donated,” Daw Than Than Htay says. “Our things are still here, just buried and broken.”

Three months on, many families like hers are still under tarps. Frequent aftershocks keep them on edge, and soon the high tide will force them to move again. “We’ve packed up so many times, I forget what it feels like to live in one place.” she says

Since late April, IOM has delivered over 70,000 relief items to earthquake-affected communities   including blankets, mats, mosquito nets, jerry cans, and plastic sheeting. Supplies came from IOM’s Manila warehouse, EU Member States, and private sector donors in Myanmar and abroad. Japanese companies like Sumitomo Mitsui Construction, Fujita Corporation, and NTT Data joined overseas partners including Satake and Taiyo Life Insurance. Together, these efforts have already reached over 50,000 people, with more distributions underway.

For Daw Than Than Htay, the kit meant she could patch the roof and dry the floor so her aunt’s mattress wouldn’t mould. “The tarpaulin was like a second skin for the house,” she says. “It stopped the rain and the fear.”

She still dreams of rebuilding, but with savings spent on bamboo and nails, a proper home feels far away. Like many others, she waits hoping for shelter that will last through the rains and the long road ahead.

These household level fixes feed into a wider early‑recovery plan that aims to reach 691,450 earthquake‑affected people across central Myanmar by year‑end. IOM’s Flash Appeal is still seeking additional funding to turn temporary shelters into lasting homes, restore livelihoods, and keep families safe through the coming seasons.

*This story was originally published on the IOM Myanmar website.