A three-day Baptist meeting in eastern Myanmar turned fatal March 24 when an earthquake struck near the Laos and Thailand border. Twenty-three people were killed and 50 others injured when a Baptist church building in Kyakuni collapsed.
The Baptists were in the middle of a worship service when the ground began to shake violently. Screaming, church members scrambled outside as the building cracked and came crashing down.
The magnitude 6.8 quake was felt as far away as Bangkok, Thailand, and in Hanoi, Vietnam. The town of Tachileik and surrounding villages in Shan state bore the brunt of the damage and fatalities.
Official counts list 74 dead. There are fears the death toll could be much higher once reports are received from remote areas. An estimated 3,152 people are homeless. Nearly 90 villages have been moderately or severely damaged, encompassing more than 18,000 people.
The village where the Baptist church was located was destroyed. Government officials told survivors that they will not rebuild this village. Some have moved to neighboring communities. The majority, however, moved a short distance into the jungle, using tents as their new homes.
Information about the true scale of the disaster has been slow to emerge given the region’s mountainous terrain, linguistic barriers and security concerns.
Officials in Myanmar, which is also known as Burma, are not allowing foreign relief workers into the affected areas. However, Myanmar Baptists are responding by taking collections in their churches and distributing simple supplies such as noodles, plastic sheeting for temporary tents, sleeping mats and cooking oil.
One of the greatest needs the local assessment team found was for safe drinking water. With the help of Southern Baptists, Baptists are trucking in 20-liter bottles of water across the border from Thailand. Pastors are then loading the big bottles onto the backs of their motorcycles and driving through muddy roads to deliver the water to remote villages.
Baptists from four associations broke through strict cultural barriers, reaching out to help people who were not part of their own communities.
“In Myanmar, people interact within their own people groups,” a Baptist representative in Thailand explained. “It’s just how it is. People stick with their own.”
Several Baptist leaders from the different people groups crossed over into Thailand to receive a crash course on disaster relief. The Baptist worker encourages Southern Baptists to join her in praying for Myanmar Christians who will be working together for the first time in this disaster relief effort:
4Pray that they will be able to supply safe drinking water and figure out how to fix the problem.
4Pray for the spiritual and emotional health of people in the affected areas. Many lost loved ones and/or their homes. Pray that the Christians will remain hopeful and show it through their actions. Pray for opportunities to not only share but show Jesus’ love. (BP)
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