Project lessons from the 2025 earthquake response
Seven project management lessons from the 28 March 2025 central Myanmar earthquake response: assessment, access, funding gaps, seasons and workplans.
Short answer
The 2025 earthquake response in central Myanmar shows that projects need plans that survive broken communications, partial access and funding gaps. Use rapid assessments, shared data, phased workplans, flexible budgets, local partners and a clear change process. Plan for the weather and for people who are easy to miss. These lessons apply to any sudden-onset emergency.
Key points
- Expect phones, roads and power to fail, and plan a backup for each.
- Start with a rapid assessment, then update the plan as facts arrive.
- Phase the workplan so the first phase works with partial funding.
- Local partners and community groups give you reach where you have no staff.
- Record every change to scope or timing, with the reason.
What happened, and why does it matter for project managers?
On 28 March 2025, two earthquakes measuring 7.7 and 6.4 struck central Myanmar. OCHA reported that the epicentres were near Mandalay and Sagaing cities, at a shallow depth of 10 kilometres. By 7 April, OCHA estimated that over 17.2 million people lived in affected areas, and that over 9.1 million were exposed to the strongest tremors across 58 of the country's 330 townships.
This article is not about the disaster itself. It is about project management. The OCHA reports describe the conditions in which many teams had to plan, budget and deliver. The reports do not list "lessons". The lessons below are our reading of those conditions, and they are useful for any team that may face a sudden emergency.
Lesson 1: What if communications and roads fail?
OCHA's first flash update said that landline, mobile and internet networks were unstable, and that damaged roads and debris obstructed access and made needs assessments harder. Power and water were also disrupted.
For a project manager, this means your normal tools may not work in the first days. Prepare a backup for each:
- Communication: agree a fallback channel (SMS, a radio check-in or a named person who travels) before you need it.
- Information: keep paper forms for assessments, and a rule for when they must be copied into digital files.
- Decision-making: name who can decide when the team lead is unreachable.
Lesson 2: How should a team plan when facts are still unclear?
Ten days after the earthquakes, rapid needs assessments covered 588,000 people in 31 townships. Among those assessed, 47 per cent had not yet received any assistance. Food, drinking water, health care, cash assistance and emergency shelter were the stated priorities.
Notice what this teaches. Early data is partial, yet it is enough to start. Use a short plan, test it against the first assessment, and revise it every week. A simple method:
- Write a one-page response plan with objectives, locations, partners and a first budget.
- Run a rapid assessment using a shared form, so results can be combined with those of other organisations.
- Compare your plan with the findings and adjust locations or activities.
- Share your data with the coordination group, so work is not duplicated.
- Review every week for the first month and record each decision.
Our guides on adaptive management and field coordination explain these habits in more detail.
Lesson 3: Why plan for the season?
OCHA noted that people left homeless were exposed to extreme heat during the hottest and driest month of the year, and that rains had already started in Mandalay. By 31 May, OCHA described overcrowded shelters with little protection against heat, wind and rain as the monsoon approached, and reported outbreaks of acute watery diarrhoea and skin infections where water, sanitation and drainage were inadequate.
For a workplan, the point is simple: the calendar is part of the risk. Put the weather on your Gantt chart. Ask which activities become harder or more urgent in the next season. Link activities that depend on each other, such as shelter and water and sanitation, so one does not get funded and delivered without the other.
Lesson 4: What if funding arrives slowly or short?
OCHA reported that of the US$275 million requested through the Flash Addendum, which aimed to reach 1.1 million earthquake-affected people, only US$63.7 million had been disbursed by 31 May. It also noted that 74 per cent of the hardest-hit townships had not yet received shelter assistance, because of access constraints, limited operational presence and funding shortages.
A project cannot control donor timelines. It can control its design:
| Planning choice | Why it helps |
|---|---|
| Phase the workplan (first 30 days, then 3 months) | Phase one works with partial funding |
| Rank activities by priority | You know what to cut first |
| Keep a short list of costed "next" activities | You can act fast when funds arrive |
| Tell donors early about gaps | Changes become requests, not surprises |
See change requests for how to document a revision.
Lesson 5: Who can reach people when you cannot?
OCHA's first update recorded search and rescue by local community groups in southern Shan while partners carried out rapid needs assessments. Community groups were often present before formal organisations arrived. The later reports note that limited operational presence slowed shelter assistance in some townships.
The management lesson is to build partnerships before the crisis. List local groups, agree simple roles and share basic safeguarding and reporting rules. During a response, give partners clear work plans and fast access to funds. Do not treat them only as sub-contractors; they often hold the community's trust.
Lesson 6: Who gets missed?
OCHA's May report warned that women, children, older persons, people with disabilities and people with chronic illnesses faced heightened risks because of limited mobility and unsafe conditions. A project plan should say how these groups will be reached. Add sex-, age- and disability-disaggregated targets, accessible distribution points, and a complaints channel that anyone can use.
Lesson 7: How do you keep the record straight?
Fast work creates messy records. Keep an issue log, a decision log and a change log from day one. Write the date, the decision, the reason and the owner. Weeks later, a donor will ask why an activity moved. The log is your answer, and it is the raw material for your lessons learned review.
How EMPO can help
EMPO is a reliable, Yangon-based training and consultancy provider and one of Myanmar's leading names in practical NGO training, with 1,200+ people trained and 15 partner organisations. We run project management training online over Zoom or in person across Myanmar, in English and Burmese. Teams can also commission a session built around their own emergency planning. See our training services or contact us.
Sources
Questions people ask
Do these lessons only apply to earthquakes?
No. They apply to any sudden-onset emergency, such as floods or cyclones. The details change, but the project management questions are the same: what do we know, who can reach people, what can we fund and what must change.
What is a flash appeal or flash addendum?
It is a short plan with a funding request that the humanitarian community issues soon after a sudden crisis. In 2025 OCHA issued a Flash Addendum to the existing Myanmar plan. Project teams use its priorities to align their own proposals.
How can a small local NGO prepare before a disaster?
Keep a short emergency workplan, a contact list, a basic budget that can be redirected, and a simple assessment form. Agree in advance who decides when to switch from normal work to emergency work.