“I lost my favorite doll that my uncle gave me when it flooded. That makes me very sad,” recounts Su Myat San, an 11-year-old student at Ah Yone Oo Learning Centre when she was given new school uniforms by Save the Children’s Emergency Response Team.

Lives of children such as Su Myat San were affected by the floods triggered by heavy rains from 25^th July, affected 90 villages in 10 sub-districts, reaching up to two metres. Markets were closed, running water and electricity stopped in some areas.

Mae Sot is an area where many migrant families from Myanmar live, mostly for economic reasons such as factory work. Their inability to cope with the flooding situation this year is a result of poverty and the rarity of floods at this scale. To make matters worse, these flood-affected migrants usually receive less support from Thai local authorities than citizens do, and therefore struggle to bounce back quickly from a natural disaster.

Following the flood, Save the Children in Thailand’s ERT immediately deployed to the area and distributed a total of 757household and hygiene kits to 603 migrant families, reaching a total of 2435 people (741 children) displaced on a riverbank in Mae Sot evacuation shelters and in the farmlands.

“Following the initial response, we identified flood-affected migrant communities that received little or no assistance from local government agencies,” says Arunrat Wattanapalin, Flood Field Coordinator for Save the Children. “We found, along with our local partners that many children lost personal belongings, including school uniforms and supplies.”

The ERT has returned to Mae Sot in November to distribute school uniforms to flood affected children in 13 migrant learning centres across the flood affected areas, reaching a total of 567 children.

“I’m very happy to receive new uniforms today. I will be diligent in my studies and want to be a doctor when I grow up,” Su Myat San tells the team with a big smile as she walks away with her new school uniforms.