Schools Double as Disaster Shelters in Myanmar


At Kan Su (pictured above), the children have just moved into their new school building. They love the airy spaciousness and light provided by the high ceilings (12 feet high) and many windows and promise to take good care of their beautiful new school.

AMURT & AMURTEL built five primary schools and one middle school in five villages in the delta area. All the schools are built to act as community shelters against future cyclones. They are equipped with disaster risk reduction features to withstand wind speeds of more than 100mph and earthquakes measuring up to 7.5 Richter Scale. The floor level is above that of the highest tidal surge.

Instead of individual classrooms, the schools consist of one or more big halls to hold 2,400 persons in times of disasters. The big halls help the short-staffed teachers manage more than one class each. They also serve as gathering places for community functions. A rainwater collection system, sanitary toilets, a library, health corner, administrative room and covered corridors are other features of our well-designed schools.