June 20, 2025
BANGKOK, Thailand — A devastating 7.7-magnitude earthquake killed more than 1,600 people in Myanmar and Thailand on Friday, March 28.
Send Relief, the compassion ministry of Southern Baptists, is responding through local partners and churches to provide essential supplies, including food, water, emergency shelter, clothing, blankets, hygiene and sanitation items, and flashlights.
“Our partners on the ground and local church leaders are already hard at work, serving their neighbors in the midst of this devastation,” said Jason Cox, Send Relief’s international vice president. “As rescue workers scramble to save people buried under collapsed homes and buildings, Send Relief is providing resources to our local ministry partners who are urgently meeting survivors’ needs.”
One of Send Relief’s partners—a local church leader who mobilized in neighboring Thailand—previously received disaster readiness training from volunteers with Hawaii Pacific Baptist Disaster Relief.
“People in Myanmar and Thailand are hurting in the aftermath of the earthquake, but we’ve received word from local churches already taking action, meeting urgent needs, and sharing the love of Jesus,” said John Williams, co-director of Hawaii Pacific Baptist Disaster Relief.
John and his wife, Gay, who serves as co-director alongside him, worked in partnership with Send Relief to provide disaster readiness training. Now, those church leaders in Southeast Asia are working tirelessly to serve thousands in need.
“Through our partnerships with Send Relief and Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, our volunteers had already been in Thailand,” said Gay. “We trained local believers in how to respond. Right now, even in the middle of the night, they are assisting—handing out clean water and urgently needed supplies.”
In addition, Send Relief teams and partners are in the early stages of assessing and planning long-term recovery efforts, including:
The best current way for Southern Baptists to respond is by praying and giving.
Prayer Requests:
