World Refugee Week 2025

Helping Displaced Earthquake Survivors in Myanmar

This World Refugee Week, we pause to pray for the more than 100 million people worldwide who find themselves displaced and unable to return home. Many people seeking refuge were forced to flee their homes at a moment’s notice, with little more than the clothes on their backs. In several countries, people who have been forced to leave their homes but remain within their country’s borders due to conflict, violence, persecution, or disasters are known as internally displaced.

Following the devastating 7.7-magnitude earthquake that rocked the Southeast Asian nation of Myanmar, killing more than 3,500 people and injuring thousands of others.

The disaster had forced around 200,000 people to leave their homes and dwellings creating an acute humanitarian crisis. Many had already been internally displaced during the past four years of conflict,. Furthermore, there was a critical need for clean water for drinking and washing, which gave way to waterborne diseases including cholera, dengue and respiratory illnesses.

How Samaritan’s Purse helped after the earthquake:

• – Samaritan’s Purse set up in the capital of Naypyidaw a 60-bed Emergency Field Hospital. Our doctors and nurses—including 14 disaster specialists from Australia and New Zealand—treated over 5,800 patients and performed over 300 surgeries.

• – Six filtration units were delivered and produced more than 59,000 gallons of fresh water for earthquake victims.

• – A total of 5,000 kits containing temporary shelter material and other necessities were distributed to families in Myanmar, including internally displaced people.

Hope in the Midst of Despair – Sanda’s Story

As early morning sunlight filtered through the netted windows of the tent hospital, another busy night shift ended for Jamie, a nurse at the Samaritan’s Purse Emergency Field Hospital in Myanmar. Before she left for some much-needed rest, she knelt down and squeezed Sanda’s* hand, one of the numerous patients under her care.

The two bowed their heads in prayer, asking God for strength and healing as the stretcher arrived to take Sanda into surgery. Her wounds were too deep, and she needed an above-the-knee amputation of her left leg.

“You might have lost a lot, but you haven’t lost everything,” Jamie said to Sanda before she let go of her hand. “You have Jesus, and He’s never going to leave you.”

Sanda’s world forever changed on March 28 when one of the strongest earthquakes in Myanmar’s history flattened her three-story home in seconds. A support beam overhead shielded her from the worst of the collapse, but her husband, sitting just beside her, died in the rubble.

With her leg pinned beneath the wreckage for eight hours, Sanda reflected on her husband’s love that was suddenly taken from her.

“He always said that he would take care of me for my whole life,” she said through tears. “He loved me only, and he cared for me only.”

Jamie first met Sanda, 31, when she arrived at our field hospital with three deep gashes in her left leg, and remained by her side, as a nurse and a friend. Through the pain-filled night hours, Jamie tended to Sanda’s every need while reminding the Burmese Christian that nothing could take Jesus from her heart.

“I thank God for each and every one of you. All I need now is prayer.”

“I thank God for each and every one of you,” Sanda said of the Samaritan’s Purse medical staff after her operation. “All I need now is prayer.” She closed her eyes and recited Psalm 23 in Burmese as she lay on her cot.

In addition to medical care, our team distributed 5,000 household kits filled with life-saving supplies, including shelter materials and solar lights. Our disaster response specialists also installed a filtration system at a Buddhist temple in a rural area that previously had to boil their inadequate supply of water. They trained members of the monastic community on how to maintain the system and prayed for them before they left. A DART member said, “After I prayed in Jesus’ Name, the deputy abbot was filled with gratitude and kept saying, ‘Thank you, thank you.’”

Thank you for coming alongside our ministry in prayer, support and service to reach people in need in Jesus’ Name. Your tax-deductible gift equips and empowers us to boldly run towards places of conflict and natural disaster to bring the light and love of Christ to where it is needed most.