Whatever it Takes: How REACT Worked With Partners to Provide Safe Drinking Water for Earthquake Survivors in Myanmar
Posted by Laura Butlin 30th April 2025 News
Estimated Reading Time: 2 mins
Pictured: People in Kan Ywar line up to fill containers with safe drinking water. Credit: Water Mission April 2025.
When a powerful earthquake struck Myanmar in March, REACT launched a rapidresponse to assess needs and identify how we could help. Within 48 hours, a small team of experienced Responders was on the ground in Bangkok, planning, coordinating, and pushing for access to the worst-affected areas in Myanmar.
But the early days were anything but straightforward.
Despite our training, readiness, and deep operational expertise, gaining appropriate access to Myanmar was a challenge. Our team split and moved across Thailand, from Chiang Rai to Kanchanaburi, scouting potential border crossings and meeting with key stakeholders including the UN, NGOs, and local authorities. In Bangkok, we worked alongside TaskForce Kiwi, Human Initiative and other partners to understand the growing humanitarian needs.
As soon as limited access became available, we met with numerous organisations including logistics partners, who confirmed that safe drinking water and sanitation were among the most urgent needs in displaced communities.
That’s where trusted partnerships came in.
Sanitation and safe water equipment on its way to Kan Ywar. Credit: Water Mission, April 2025
REACT chose to partner with Water Mission, a humanitarian organisation with an outstanding track record and deep operational networks in Myanmar. Their local team was already responding in the field, and together, we conducted joint assessments and due diligence on their water trucking project, identifying the community of Kan Ywar as one of the hardest hit.
Thanks to the generosity of donors like Festival Medical Services and Exodus Travel, we were able to work through Water Mission quickly, and they began delivering safe drinking water and urgent sanitation improvements.
“REACT’s contribution is part of a larger response we have in Myanmar. We used the support to supply safe water through water trucking. Additionally, we were able to address the overflowing latrines in the community, which has offered immediate hygiene relief. This has served approximately 450 families, totalling around 1,700 individuals, in the Kan Ywar community, which our teams identified as the most needed area.”
Jen Aintablian, Partnerships Director, Water Mission
Even though REACT is no longer present in Myanmar, our impact continues through Water Mission’s trusted local networks. Safe drinking water is still flowing. Latrines are no longer overflowing. Lives are safer. Dignity is restored.
Why Water Mission?
REACT chose Water Mission for all the reasons that matter in a crisis:
- Trusted local networks that can reach communities others can’t.
- Proven technical excellence in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH).
- Shared values: quiet professionalism, dignity for survivors, and a focus on what works.
This is what REACT does best: move fast, operate with agility, and collaborate with integrity.
We mobilise early, ask the right questions, and partner at pace to deliver high-impact results. We are humanitarian first and that means meeting the urgent needs of people affected by disaster, whatever it takes.
Thank You
To everyone who donated to our Myanmar Earthquake Appeal, thank you for your impact.
To Festival Medical Services and Exodus Travels, thank you for powering this project and our response.
To our partners at Water Mission, thank you for getting the work done.
To our Responders, thank you for your commitment, selflessness and willingness to do whatever it takes.
To the people of Kan Ywar, thank you for your kindness, resilience and leadership in the aftermath of disaster - you are not forgotten.
Together, we’ve delivered safe drinking water, prevented disease, and restored dignity to nearly around 1700 people in the wake of the earthquake.
Whatever it takes.