When Cyclone Nargis hit the 16-bed hospital on southwestern Myanmar’s Haigyi Island in May of 2008, senior nurse Sa Naing Naing Tun resigned himself to his fate.
“We all thought we were about to die,” he said in a recent interview with the Irrawaddy. “We didn’t think we could escape.”
Water flooded into the hospital as heavy winds flung debris against the walls outside. First he and the patients stood on the bed so to get above the water. Then they took to the roof.
For his actions that day, which included helping deliver a baby with virtually no medical equipment (at one point, he used his longyi), Sa Naing Naing Tun was awarded the prestigious Interational Committee of the Red Cross’ Florence Nightingale Award on May 12, making him only the fourth Myanmar national to receive the coveted prize, according to the Irrawaddy.
Cyclone Nargis would go on to kill more than 100,000 people. The then-military government was widely criticized for its slow response to the crisis, leaving people like Sa Naing Naing Tun to fend for themselves.
Photo: Wikicommons/Mohd Nor Azmil Abdul Rahman
