Myanmar-Thailand earthquake: Bay Area Burmese restaurant raising funds for disaster relief efforts
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Devastating images are coming out of Southeast Asia Friday. Hours after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck in Myanmar, the total number of dead there and in neighboring Thailand is still unknown.
Thousands of miles away here in the Bay Area, many in the local Burmese community are in shock.
"I couldn't even sleep. Yesterday I was trying to contact my family and my friends who live there," said Myatkaung Khant.
VIDEO: Powerful earthquake rocks Myanmar and Thailand and kills more than 150 people, over 700 injured
Khant and his friend Aung Zin work at Bay of Burma restaurant in San Francisco. They say getting ahold of loved ones in Myanmar has been challenging.
"All the phone lines are cut off. That's what I heard. There's no internet so far because it's caused by the damage," Zin said.
Zin tells me his heart breaks for the people back at home. He explains that while it is a developing country, it's also been through a lot of challenges in recent years.
"Our country is suffering a lot. We had floods last year, that was really bad. We have a civil war since 2021. That's really bad. And now it's this," said Zin.
Those struggles that Burmese people are facing is one reason Desmond Tan has decided to take action. Tan is also originally from Myanmar and owns several local Burmese restaurants including Burma Love.
On Friday, Tan helped set up a GoFundMe to help those in need in the country.
He says the group behind it will match the first $10,000 donated.
"That's the quickest way for us to do it at the moment, and for other people from the Burmese community to come together and raise money together," Tan said.
Back at Bay of Burma, Khant says Burmese culture teaches people to come together during times of hardship.
And for all those who would like to contribute, Khant says everyone in his community would be forever grateful.
"I think Burmese people would really appreciate all the help we can get right now. I would really appreciative," said Khant.
Friday's earthquake was one of the strongest to hit Myanmar in the past century.
