The Promise, a Seoul-based Buddhist disaster relief and social welfare NGO recently provided follow-up emergency relief and supplies for earthquake-affected and displaced residents of Myanmar’s Mandalay Region from 1–5 July.
In March 2025, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck central Myanmar, severely damaging homes and infrastructure, including water supplies and medical care. Immediately after the earthquake, ThePromise conducted a first round of emergency relief in April 2025 across Mandalay, Inle, and Sagaing, followed by a second round of emergency relief in Inle and Taunggyi in June 2025.
“A disaster does not end the moment it occurs—it continues until those affected are able to return to their daily lives,” ThePromise’s chairman, Buddhist monk Ven. Myojang, noted in a statement shared with BDG. “ThePromise will continue to look after and support neighbors in need, even after attention and support elsewhere have faded, both immediately following a disaster and long afterward.”
This year, ThePromise has carried out follow-up emergency support for affected residents in Mandalay—an area where outside assistance had ceased since last year’s earthquake. Working through the local NGO Tabitha, the organization delivered rice to 420 households and hygiene supplies to 600 students.
ThePromise provided 6.9 million won (US$5,100) to Tabitha to fund the effort, which targeted undocumented and impoverished residents left without access to government assistance amid Myanmar’s ongoing civil conflict.
“More than a year after the earthquake, outside attention and support for affected communities have significantly declined, yet many families in Myanmar are still unable to return to normal life,” ThePromise told BDG.
“In particular, undocumented residents and vulnerable groups—who struggle to receive government assistance amid ongoing civil conflict and earthquake conditions—have found their livelihoods further collapsing, leaving them in an increasingly difficult situation.”
NGO Tabitha carried out support operations based on needs identified on the ground and directed toward earthquake-affected residents, impoverished residents, and school-going children in the region.
A total of 420 households, including 220 undocumented impoverished households in Aung Pin Lal Village and 200 earthquake-affected households in the western and southern areas of Thanlyet Mhaw Village received 10–12 kilograms of rice per household, totaling 4,600kg.
In addition, 600 students at Swe Tha Har School, a monastery-run school in Mandalay that has operated for 20 years, received toothpaste, toothbrushes, and soap.
Swe Tha Har School serves impoverished children who cannot attend public school, children of undocumented migrant families, and children whose families have fled conflict-affected areas. Although the school is funded by donations, funding has declined since the earthquake, while student numbers have grown, making it difficult to ensure sufficient hygiene supplies.
“At this point, now that earthquake relief efforts ended long ago, affected residents sometimes feel forgotten and become depressed,” a local aid worker explained. “While material support helps directly, it is also a great source of strength in showing them that people are still standing with them.”
ThePromise’s follow-up support went beyond immediate emergency relief, including checking in on residents who had been overlooked and supporting their return to a normal life.
ThePromise is a disaster relief and social welfare organization operating under the motto “Neighbors helping neighbors help others.” Its work spans disaster relief, education, water and sanitation, and income-generation programs.
Since 2015, ThePromise has extended support and relief measures during national and international humanitarian crises and disasters, including: the Gyeongju and Pohang earthquakes in South Korea; 2022 wildfires on South Korea’s east coast; flooding in Jeongbang Village in South Korea; the Jeju Air disaster;* as well as international relief efforts in more than 20 countries, including Haiti, Myanmar, Syria, Türkiye, Ukraine, and Venezuela. In 2023, it received the Manhae Grand Prize in the Practice category.
Ven. Myojang established ThePromise in 2008 as a non-profit organization under South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Korea. The NGO, which has Special Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), is dedicated to providing humanitarian aid worldwide. Its stated mission “is to support communities affected by disasters and emergencies by quickly delivering customized relief supplies and conducting preventive education to prepare for such crises.” (ThePromise)
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